Income protection: help please!

Bluebirdnick

All,

91 days ago, I took out an insurance policy with HSBC to pay me an income in case of redundancy. I have been told today that my employer is making redundancies, and will start consultations soon.

When I took out the plan, I read all of the T&Cs, and noted that the company will not pay for a redundancy that occurs within the first 90 days of the policy. I don't have the booklet to hand, but I'm sure it was a 90 day period - I even put the day that my protection became valid in my work calendar (i.e. yesterday!). However, I went to check the policy details tonight, and the online version of the booklet says the period is 120 days.

I'm panicing. If I'm selected for redundancy I will need the payments from this policy to live. I have a number of questions, and would really appreciate some help:

1) I am absolutely sure that when I took the policy out, I had to wait 90 days before it became valid. If this is the case, is it possible that HSBC have since altered the policy to make it 120 days (i.e. in line with the online version of the policy, available online today)? If it is 90 days, I think I'm OK. If not...

2) The policy states that they will not make payment for an unemployment that I'm notified of, or happens, within 120 days of the start date (i.e. 91 days ago). However, I've only been told that the firm will be making redundancies; they have not started consultation yet, and I've not been told that I've been made redundant. Therefore, have I been notified of this unemployment yet? If I come in on Monday and I'm told that I'm part of the consultation, have I been notified at that time? Or am I only notified of it when the consultation period finished, and I'm told that they could not fit me in in another part of the business and therefore I'm going to be made redundant?

I'd really appreciate some help with this. There is a good chance that I'll be included in the redundancy, and I'm really, really panicing that my insurance policy will not pay out!

boredmarriedwithkids

Have your firm actually given you notice in writing yet.

You need a starting point with a date to work from. Once you have that date you can begin to work the claim period from there.

Dont forget that being at risk of being made redundant is not the same as being made redundant!

Have they started the consultation period yet? If so, (correct me someone if I am wrong) but you will be notified that you are at risk at the beginning of the redundancy period. How many are being made redudant, less than 20 is notifiable to unions with 30 days consultation more is a longer so potentially you have longer before you need to claim.

Lets say that you do get made redundant! 30 days from now. This will be in writing to say that you are redundant. Therefore you may be potentially 120+ days into the claim. However all the dates that your policy advises to claim should be from the date that you have actually been made redundant from so if this falls outside the 120 day time frame then you should be ok.

That said,if you took the policy out 91 days ago and have to wait 90 days to claim and have still not have notice then I think you may be ok.

Give the insurance company a shout and ask for clarification, I'm sure they will be more than glad to help!

Keep a diary as well of calls made to them and also when you have emails/notifications at work, that way you can keep track of the timeline against when you took the policy out.

HTH¬!

Bluebirdnick

Hi,

thanks so much for your response, it is really helpful. Here is my understanding of the process - I need to be able to tell at which point I'm notified of my unemployment for the purposes of my policy:

1) Employer decides the only way to survive is to make redundancies. Individuals and numbers have not been determined (today - day 91 on my policy)

2) Employer identifies people to go, and begins consultation with those at risk of redundancy (assume tomorrow, day 92)

3) Consultation period runs 30 days. The employer cannot relocate me in another part of the business, so I'm put on notice (day 122). I take a PILON, so I'm out of work on day 123.

Is this correct? If so, does my notice of unemployment (for the purposes of my policy) take place at step 2, or step 3? I hope it's the latter!

A points I should clarify:

1) I have not been picked for redundancy yet; we have simply been told that my employer will be making redundancies and beginning consultation soon.

2) It is anticipated that there will be over 100 redundancies nationwide, but my employer says that these are actually various regional redundancy programmes that will take place at the same time. Therefore, my redundancy programme will be 20+, so is a one month consultation period.

3) Do I need to notify my insurance company of this development? I would need to tell them about it if I were about to take out a new policy, but I can't see anything that says I have to tell them once the policy has been accepted.

Good idea re: the diary, thanks!

[Deleted User]

Bluebirdnick wrote: »

All,

91 days ago, I took out an insurance policy with HSBC to pay me an income in case of redundancy. I have been told today that my employer is making redundancies, and will start consultations soon.

When I took out the plan, I read all of the T&Cs, and noted that the company will not pay for a redundancy that occurs within the first 90 days of the policy. I don't have the booklet to hand, but I'm sure it was a 90 day period - I even put the day that my protection became valid in my work calendar (i.e. yesterday!). However, I went to check the policy details tonight, and the online version of the booklet says the period is 120 days.

I'm panicing. If I'm selected for redundancy I will need the payments from this policy to live. I have a number of questions, and would really appreciate some help:

1) I am absolutely sure that when I took the policy out, I had to wait 90 days before it became valid. If this is the case, is it possible that HSBC have since altered the policy to make it 120 days (i.e. in line with the online version of the policy, available online today)? If it is 90 days, I think I'm OK. If not...

2) The policy states that they will not make payment for an unemployment that I'm notified of, or happens, within 120 days of the start date (i.e. 91 days ago). However, I've only been told that the firm will be making redundancies; they have not started consultation yet, and I've not been told that I've been made redundant. Therefore, have I been notified of this unemployment yet? If I come in on Monday and I'm told that I'm part of the consultation, have I been notified at that time? Or am I only notified of it when the consultation period finished, and I'm told that they could not fit me in in another part of the business and therefore I'm going to be made redundant?

I'd really appreciate some help with this. There is a good chance that I'll be included in the redundancy, and I'm really, really panicing that my insurance policy will not pay out!

I was thinking the same. Company today announced refundancies but does it count as knowing at this point? Or when you get an 'at risk' letter or when you get a redundancy letter?