Income protection is an insurance policy that pays out a replacement income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury.

It can pay out up to 75% of your income. You can choose to pay less.

It will pay out after the chosen “Deferral period” e.g. 4 weeks.

When on claim, you no longer pay your premium.

It will continue to pay out until you are able to return to work.

Each job type is put into a category “Class” from 1-4, which is a factor in calculating your premium, due to the risk of you being out of work.

Income Protection is an insurance policy, also known as Income Continuance, or Permanent Health Insurance (PHI).

It works to provide you with a replacement source of income if you can’t work due to an illness or injury after a period of time specified by you.

It typically helps supplement income for a set period, which is defined in the policy LowQuotes help you find.

You can take out an income protection policy if:

• you are in full-time work (more than 16 hours per week)
• self-employed and earn a wage
• over 18 (will vary based on plan)

What is included in your plan will depend on multiple criteria, which is worked out after you fill in the form above and our team finds the best quote possible.

A typical instance of income protection in Ireland would include:

• Guaranteed premium option available meaning the cost will never go up, even if you make a claim.
• Pays up to 75% of your income, allowing you to financially support your loved ones when you are out of work.
• During your deferred period, Income Protection pays a replacement daily income if you are in a hospital for more than seven days.
• You can still maintain your Income Protection even if you move job, anywhere in the EU.
• The cover can be increased every 3 years, by up to 20% of your original cover level, without further medical questions.

Anyone eligible can avail of income protection insurance.

There are some standard requirements. Examples of this would be when:

• You are 18-54 years old and in full-time employment or are self-employed.
• You want to protect some of your income until you are 65 in case you cannot work because of illness or injury.
• You want a product that pays you a regular income if you cannot work because of an illness or injury, after a certain amount of time (deferred period).
• You want the option to top up your cover at a later date.
• You want your cover to continue, no matter how many claims you make.
• You want to take advantage of potential income tax relief.

If you are looking for an alternative to Income Protection, and something where your family would be protected if you were diagnosed with an illness, Serious Illness Protection may be the better option for you.

Contrary to popular belief, you can submit a claim on your income protection policy as many times as you require income due to being out of work (due to illness or injury), right up to the very end of the policy term.

The deferral period for income protection is the period in between when you are unable to work and the policy starting to pay out. Example: If you choose a 4 week deferred period, your income protection policy will start to pay out once you have been unable to work for 4 weeks due to injury or illness.

Typically, the deferral periods for Income Protection plans in Ireland are 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 weeks.

Some occupations will not be covered due to the risk factor of the occupation. See below a list of classes and which class you might fall in to.

• Class 1 – Office type environment for 75% or more of your day.
• Class 2 – Doctor/Retail/Catering/Waiting Staff/Chef/Medical Practitioner/Salesperson.
• Class 3 – Education/Nurse/Surgeon/Dentist/Carer/Social Worker/Teacher.
• Class 4 – Manual Labour, Building, Trades, General Operatives

Please note that these are subject to change depending on the Income Protection provider.

If you’re currently 35 years old, there’s a one in six chance you’ll be out of work for 6 months in your career. Would your bills be covered? Could you pay your mortgage or rent for those six months?

It isn’t just illness you need to keep in mind, accidents can happen – in the form of traffic accidents or slipping and putting your back out. You need to have something in place just in case your wages were to stop.

The LowQuotes team will always help you find policies that work to your situation.

There are cases where we might suggest that income protection isn’t ideal. For example, if your health or other contributing factors (e.g. smoker status) lead to high premiums, we may take the time to find suitable alternatives that best match your needs.

You should never have to find yourself paying a premium for income protection, regardless of provider.

In Ireland, it is common to have an income protection plan in place until you are in your mid-50s.

It’s something of an industry standard to have plans run to five year increments, i.e. someone choosing to end their plan at age 55/60/65 etc.

No. Income Protection is there to help provide relief in instances where you can’t work due to illness or injury, essentially replicating monthly income.

Conversely, Serious Illness Protection/Cover pays out one lump sum when you have an illness listed in that policy. If that’s something to consider, we recommend clicking here to learn more about how LowQuotes can help you find a better deal on Serious Illness Protection.

There are a host of income protection providers in Ireland, including:

• Aviva
• New Ireland
• Royal London
• Zurich

Some will have their own terms for income protection, which can be confusing, and some may not make it clear if they offer a confirmed income option (this is where your plan stays based on your original income).

To avoid comparing site after site, and being tongue tied over various policy, just use the form on this page. Let LowQuotes take care of finding you the best income protection plan possible