What Is The UK's Best Income Protection Insurance In 2024?
Read our 2024 Best Income Protection Insurance UK Guide, get expert regulated advice and compare online quotes from Aviva, Vitality and other top UK insurers...
Liverpool Victoria (LV) is the UK’s number one provider of individual Income Protection and one of the top providers of financial services.
Founded way back in 1843, LV started out as ‘The Liverpool Independent Legal Victoria Burial Society’ and sold Life Insurance at the cost of only a penny per month. Now with over 175 years of experience, it offers a range of protection products and has acquired over 1.28 million customers.
On 2 January 2020, LV moved away from friendly society status and became registered with Companies House as a company limited by guarantee.
LV’s Income Protection is a great product for specific occupations, such as doctors and surgeons, with features such as Sick Pay Guarantee, Sabbatical Break Cover, Overseas cover and no HIV/AIDS exclusions.
Samantha Haffenden-Angear
Independent Protection Expert at Drewberry
Liverpool Victoria is one of the leaders in the Income Protection market, combining a straightforward product with clear literature and competitive premiums.
This policy is known as LV’s Flexible Protection Plan and can be included with other products like Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover.
Liverpool Victoria Income Protection Coverage | |
|---|---|
Maximum Cover | 60% of your annual income before tax. |
Premium Type | |
Maximum Claim Duration | Full cover to term Budget Cover |
Incapacity Definition | |
Deferred Period | 1 / 2 / 3 / 6 or 12 months |
Indexation | Optional |
Waiver of Premium | Automatically included |
Insurers base the monthly income benefit you receive on your income, therefore if your income falls between you taking out a policy and making a claim, the likelihood is that your benefit will reduce too.
However, LV offers a ‘benefit guarantee’, so if your benefit is £1,500 or less, they will still pay your chosen monthly benefit, minus any continuing income you are receiving.
If you are a registered doctor or surgeon licensed to practice in the UK, LV will increase the guaranteed benefit to £3,000.
Automatically included with your policy, LV will pay a lump sum payment if you suffer from one of a number of specific fractures. You can make one claim a year and the highest amount that may be claimed is £2,200.
If the worst should happen and you die during the term of your plan, LV will pay a lump sum benefit to your loved ones. However, the benefit amount will vary depending on how long the policy has been in place. For example, if you die within 4 years of having it they will pay £5,000, for policies that have been in place for 4 or more years they will pay £10,000.
If you become unemployed through no fault of your own, LV will pay up to 6 months worth of premiums for you while keeping your insurance in place.
This 6 month payment holiday can only be used once during the lifetime of your policy, however the 6 months don’t have to be in one continuous period.
If your child (up to the age of 21, including step and adopted children) is diagnosed with certain illnesses during the life of your policy, LV will pay a lump sum of 6x your monthly benefit, up to a maximum of £25,000. LV will allow one claim per child.
LV offers an optional index-linked Income Protection. If you choose this option your benefit amount will increase with inflation based on the Retail Price Index (RPI). There is a maximum increase of 12% per year.
Without additional medical evidence, LV offers you the chance to increase your cover by up to 50% of your original cover or £12,000 a year. Life changes include:
If any of these changes occur you must inform LV within 3 months of it happening and provide evidence of the event.
As an LV policy holder you and your children (up to the age of 16) will be able to use its doctor services at no extra cost. Services can be accessed via phone or an app and include:
NHS dentists, doctors & surgeons are eligible for LV’s NHS Sick Pay Guarantee. This means LV will pay 50% of your income protection benefit when you receive reduced NHS sick pay. When the NHS sick pay stops completely, they will increase the benefit to 100%.
If you have had your policy for at least 12 months and choose to take a sabbatical break, LV will continue to treat you as employed for up to 2 years. As a result of this, during this time they will provide you with full cover under the standard own occupation definition. This means if you fall ill during the sabbatical, your benefit will be based on your earnings prior to taking the break.
If you are a teacher and have to go off sick, as long as your sick pay is set out in one of the appropriate Conditions of Service for School Teachers, LV will pay 50% of your benefit when you are receiving half pay and the full benefit when your sick pay stops entirely.
LV’s Income Protection offers own occupation cover to all policyholders, so you will be able to claim if you suffer an injury or illness that prevents you from carrying out your specific job role. However, if you have been out of work for more than 12 months when you claim, LV will apply their homemaker definition.
With the homemaker definition, if because of an accident or injury you are unable to prepare a meal or do basic housework, LV will pay your amount of cover at the time of your claim up to a maximum of £1,500 a month (less any monthly payments from other accident and sickness insurance policies you may be receiving).
LV offers short deferred periods of 1 day or 1 week in its Personal Sick Pay policies, meaning you can receive your benefit faster.
LV is one provider that offers special features for teachers and medical professionals. For example, they offer increased benefits, sick pay mirroring and adjusted definitions of incapacity. So if you are a medical professional, these are benefits you might be able to take advantage of.
LV will allow you to claim on your policy as usual if you are in a country that is specified in your policy. However, if you are not in any of these countries and are elsewhere outside of the UK, LV will only pay your benefit for a maximum of 26 weeks until you return to one of the specified countries.
To provide you with an estimate of how much you can expect to pay for Liverpool Victoria Income Protection, we’ve provided example premiums based on varying ages below.
When calculating these quotes we have assumed that the individual looking for cover wants a monthly benefit of £1,250 and:
Monthly Premiums | 30 Years Old | 40 Years Old | 50 Years Old |
|---|---|---|
£37.03 | £57.18 | £111.75 |
With so many factors to consider it can be a bit of a minefield when trying to take out the most appropriate Income Protection.
If you are a little unsure and need some help we have a team of experts on hand who specialise in providing advice to help UK workers source the most suitable cover.
If you already know what you are looking for you can also use our handy Income Protection quote tool to compare the top UK insurers 😊 →
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For help and fee-free advice on Income Protection, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.