Mortgage care cover help!

Accident & Sickness cover is 'short term' income replacement cover - typically you find that it will provide up to 1-2years of cover should you be unable to work.

Considerations for this should be - what you will be paid through your employment if you are off sick. If you are paid for say 3 months then you can defer the cover by 3 months and it will pay out after that. You are usually limited on the level of cover as a max % of your income.

If you want to protect your income for longer, then you would normally take a Permanent Health Insurance policy (PHI). This will replace your income until you retire normally or a set date. The cover is a max % of your income.

Critical Illness is cover if you suffer a pre-defined illness such as a heart attack. The cover normally pays a lump sum amount. Cover used to be cover many more illnesses so you need to be really clear on what it pays out on. There has been a recent review - https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/choosing-the-right-insurance/life-cover/critical-illness-insurance/ this may give you more insight to what this cover offers.

You can normally bolt on Critical Illness with Life cover which can be a little more cost effective than having 2 policies.

Whether you 'need' them or not is very much dependent on your circumstances and situation but like any insurance, its kind of a waste of money if you never claim. If you do make a successful claim, you think it will be the best investment you have ever made.

Like any insurance, you need to look beyond price sometimes and consider payout rates and the cover you are getting for your money. This is usually where professional advice does pay.