Zurich Income Protection Insurance

Zurich Income Protection – Introduction

Founded in 1872, the Zurich Insurance Group is a major player in the insurance sector.  It has 55,000 employees in 170 countries and is the largest mutual, life, investments and pensions company in the UK.

In the UK, Zurich Assurance Ltd (ZAL) operates as the insurance arm as part of the Zurich Insurance Group.

How Financially Strong is Zurich?

Zurich Assurance Ltd (ZAL) is strongly capitalised, with total assets under management (AuM) of over $416 billion as of December 2023.

The group’s business operating profit for 2023 reached a record USD 7.4 billion, demonstrating strong financial health and operational performance.

Zurich Income Protection.  Your At-A-Glance Guide

Zurich income protection cover is high flexible, and can allow the policy holder to amend policy terms after cover has been taken out (subject to policy conditions and insurer approval).  For example, if your circumstance change you could amend your claim period, deferred period, or change the additional policy benefits.

This insurer offers two main types of cover: Zurich Income Protection and Zurich Income Protection Select, the latter, as is implied, offering additional benefits should you need to make a claim.

You may even be able to lower your premiums if you’ve given up smoking – another good reason to stop.

Here are the key facts that you need to know about income protection insurance with Zurich.

• Zurich uses the “own occupation” definition of incapacity, which in our opinion is the most appropriate classification. This means that you’ll be able to claim if illness or injury prevents you from doing what you do now, rather than any other work.
• Zurich offers extra benefits to doctors and surgeons including a minimum income guarantee of £3,000 per month, regardless of the benefit amount stated in the policy (see below).
• With Zurich, your monthly benefit will depend on how much you are earning before you become incapacitated. The maximum amount you can choose is the lower of £20,000 per month or 80% of your annual net earnings. You should be aware of this, should you start working part-time due to illness, for example.
• You will be able to choose your claim duration. It can either be for the full term of your policy or you can limit it to two years for each claim.  Otherwise, payments will stop when you no longer meet Zurich’s definition of incapacity, you no longer have any loss of earnings, or when you die.
• State benefits and income from savings and investments are not taken into consideration. However, continuing salary, bonuses, business profits, and other insurance claims will be considered in the assessment of benefits.
• However, continuing salary, bonuses etc, any profits you gain from your business as well as any other insurance policies on which you claim must be considered.
• Should you return to work with a lower salary, Zurich offers a return to work package to top up your earnings by the percentage by which they have decreased.
• For an extra amount, Zurich offers a number of additional benefits with their “Select” income protection policy. These are outlined below.
• You must be employed or self-employed to take out IP with Zurich and be a UK resident. You must also have been registered with a GP for at least two years.

Overview of Key Policy Details

Policy Type	Income Protection
Premium	Guaranteed
Maximum Claim Duration	Limited benefit period – up to 24 months for each claim. Full term benefit period – until the policy ends or you are no longer incapacitated.
Incapacity Definition	Own occupation
Deferred Period	4/ 8/ 13/ 26/ 52 or 104 weeks.  Single and duel deferred periods are available (see below)
Indexation	Optional.  This can be linked to an index-linked rate based on the RPI  or at a chosen rate of interest of either 3% or 5%.
Waiver of Premium	Included
Maximum Cover	The lower of £20,000 per month or 80% of your annual net earnings.
Minimum Cover	£5 per month or £50 per year (excludes fracture cover)
Minimum Entry Age	16 years
Maximum Entry Age	The day before your 65th birthday
Minimum Policy Term	5 years
Maximum Policy Term	54 years
Back to Work Benefit	A percentage of your monthly benefit will be paid if you return to a job on a lower salary or on a part-time basis (max of 24 months).
Guaranteed Insurability	If you’re changing your marital status, having a child or increasing your salary, you will need to provide evidence should you wish to amend your cover.
Guaranteed Benefit	The lower of either your monthly benefit or £1,500 per month.
Policy Exclusions	Becoming unemployed Self-inflicted injuries resulting in incapacity.

More Jargon-Free Information About Zurich from Black Lion Insurance

At Black Lion Insurance, we aim to help our customers make an informed decision on the income protection cover that’s just perfect for them.  The differences between policy options can be confusing; it’s easy for all those choices to start blending into one overwhelming mass.  Then, you make the wrong choice without realising it.

Don’t let that person be you.

Income protection is a very important insurance product.  It’s a monthly benefit that replaces some (or most) of your earnings.  You can claim this amount if you’re injured or become ill.  If you’re self-employed and can’t work, not being properly covered could be disastrous for your finances. Even if you have a full-time job, your company sick pay could be inadequate, or short term.

We think it’s not worth the risk.

Taking advice from the team at Black Lion Insurance could save you a great deal of time and stress.  In a nutshell, we’ll reduce and hopefully eliminate any perplexity and puzzlement from the tricky business of choosing the right income protection.

How?  Because we’re highly experienced and fully qualified.  We’ll only recommend the cover that’s right for you.

We could help you to save money on your premiums, too.  Black Lion Insurance has  negotiating power with our partner providers, including Zurich; clout where it matters, you could say.

Have a look at our comparison guide below.  We’ve made it as straightforward as possible as we know you’re busy.  Give us a call on 0203 011 00 22 if you’d like more information about what would suit you best.

Key Points about Zurich

• You can start your income protection cover with Zurich from 16 years old.
• Zurich offers a special package for doctors and surgeons. Instead of a minimum benefit guarantee, your policy promises a minimum income of £3,000 per month. If your monthly benefit is less than £3,000, the guarantee will be limited to your monthly benefit.
• With Zurich, you can have a single or dual deferred period, the length of time before your monthly benefit will start to pay out. A single deferred period is measured in weeks (see above).  A dual deferred, also measured in weeks enables you to receive income after the first deferred period and then an additional amount after the second.
• This could be beneficial if you’re entitled to company sick pay.
• Zurich offers a guaranteed benefit that will never be less than £1,500 per month (or the amount stated in your plan). If you’ve had to reduce your working hours, you’ll probably be earning less.  This is useful, because the  benefit will still apply from the time you took out the policy until making the claim.
• With Zurich Income Protection, you are entitled to a number of additional benefits, such as:
  • House benefit. If you’re not earning when you become incapacitated, you could receive the lower of 80% of your income immediately before you stopped working.  To claim, you must be unable to carry out a specified list of daily living activities.
  • Maternity, paternity and adoption benefit. Should you become incapacitated after going on the above leave, you will be able to claim based on the job you were doing before.
  • Waiver of premium. Zurich will stop collecting your premium payments 13 weeks from the date of incapacity or at the end of the deferred period, whichever is earlier.
• Zurich also offers an Income Protection Select package, with the following:
  • Family carer benefit.  Subject to certain conditions, if you regularly care for your partner, Zurich will pay the lower of the monthly benefit or £1,500 per month for a maximum of 12 months.
  • Trauma benefit.  Should you suddenly suffer blindness, deafness, your speech, lose a hand or a foot, as well as certain other traumatic conditions, you may be eligible for a one-off sum of an amount six times the monthly benefit or £50,000Hospital Stay benefit. If you are in hospital for 7 consecutive nights, you could be eligible for a payment of £100 per night after the 7^th night, up to a maximum of 90 days.
  • Needlestick benefit.  If you develop one of a specified list of infections whilst performing your work duties, you could be eligible for a payment of £50,000, or the lower of six times your monthly benefit.
  • Funeral benefit. Should you die during the lifetimes of your policy, a payment of £10,000 or six times the monthly benefit will be paid to your family.
  • Multi-fracture cover.  For an additional premium, Zurich will pay a lump sum of £2,000, £4,000 or £6,000 for a specified number of fractures, dislocations, tendon ruptures or ligament tears.

Do YOU need advice from Black Lion Insurance?

Often, unexpected, stressful or unpleasant things can change your life in an instant.  You may be right as rain one day and break a limb the next;  you could develop an illness without any warning or a debilitating condition.

What would you do if any of the above stopped you from earning?  Especially, how would you cope if you had people depending on you?

Here at Black Lion Insurance, we would urge you to consider an income protection policy.  In our view, protecting your income if you can’t earn any is one of the most powerful and effective ways you can ensure that disaster may not actually mean disaster.

We are a team of insurance consultants who are here to offer you our unbiased, independent recommendation on the right income protection policy for your circumstances.  Especially, we offer help and advice to the self-employed, including senior level contractors acting as company directors.

Our experts won’t sell to you. Talk to us in confidence about your income, your state of health and how much you would need to live on – and we’ll do the rest.  We can even set up the policy for you and help you to amend it if your circumstances change.

Black Lion Insurance is here for you if you need to make a claim, too.

Remember, in our role as holistic insurance consultants, we have bargaining power with our income providers.  All of them.  What you think is great value for money, may not be.

If you’d like to know more about what Zurich (and all our other trusted insurers), just give us a call.

And don’t forget…