Insurance for sickness of unable to work?

SweetPotatoPie

Hi,
I have been googling but nothing is straight forward. I am looking at working for an agency as the pay is massively different. Obviously this means losing benefits and if I am unable to work, I would only be entitled to SSP which I could not afford to live off.
I am wondering whether it is possible to get sickness insurance to cover me if I was off work Ill? I’m not talking a few days, more like a few months. I’m talking if it was something that is more serious, I have life insurance but that only covers terminal illness. Can anyone please help with this, does such a thing exist? 
Thanks! 

sallybeans

Income protection insurance is likely what you’re looking for. Quite often they’ll have a waiting period of say 2 or 3 months of sickness before you can claim, so you’d need some savings to cover that initial period. You can reduce the length of this waiting period but it will increase your premiums.

SweetPotatoPie

Thank you! I shall look into this. 

Sandtree

Be aware that two different products get sold as "income protection".

The first is the budget version ASU (better known as PPI) which will cover you typically for up to 12 months and premiums are reviewable at least annually (so risk of getting expensive as you get older)

The full fat version is PHI which covers you until your nominated date (normally your planned retirement) and its a fixed premium for life (or indexed linked). The other advantage is underwriting is done at point of purchase so you have a much better idea of what is and isnt covered if you've any pre-existing conditions or prior injuries etc.

The average PHI claim is allegedly 6 years so massively more comprehensive cover than the max 12 months that ASU normally gives.

SweetPotatoPie

I wondered what that meant! That’s fab. Thank you.