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Best life insurance, income protection and critical illness cover for contractors
The latest statistics reveal that there are millions of self-employed professionals contributing to the UK workforce. Their working lives have undergone significant transformations in the last few years.
Recently, the number of self-employed individuals in the UK surpassed 4.39 million, marking a notable increase from 3.2 million in 2000. This rise underscores the substantial growth of self-employment, which has played a pivotal role in expanding employment opportunities within the labour market.
Currently, self-employed individuals account for 15.3% of total employment, a significant increase from 12% recorded in 2000.
Out of which, approximately 1.8 million were working as full-time contractors and over 200,000 working part-time as their second job. Number of self-employed professionals in the UK has been increasing by double digits over the last few years.
For those working as contractors, life insurance is an essential insurance policy to have. No contractor wants to consider death, but all contractors want to make sure their loved ones are protected financially should the worst happen.
Contractors' life insurance will pay a lump sum to your loved ones which will allow them to pay off your mortgage and any other outstanding debts, cover your funeral expenses and even provide a lump sum or a regular income to your dependents replacing your earnings for a period of time that you select.
Prior to embarking on their contracting journey, many contractors had been in employment where they would have had a death-in-service policy paid for by their employer, at no cost to them, and for typically a multiple of their salary.
However, when they go independent, their former employer's death-in-service policy will cease to apply. This means they need to think how to provide benefits to those left behind in the event of their untimely death.
Contractors have a number of types of life insurance cover to choose from. Some policies, for example, relevant life insurance, may be quite tax-efficient as they are paid by their limited liability company as a legitimate business expense and payouts are protected from inheritance tax.
To help you choose the right type of policy and insurer, it costs nothing to speak to our highly-trained experienced advisers that are available via the 30-second application form on the button below.
WeCovr works with only FCA-authorised insurance experts that specialise in underwriting contractors and freelancers. They are not tied to any one insurance provider, which allows them to provide you with the best value-for-money insurance offers if you work as a contractor.
The cost of life insurance is going to vary with the specific type of activities undertaken, your health situation, smoking habits and other key factors.
Contractors' Life Insurance Cover - questions you may be asked
- What are the typical daily activities that you are involved in as a contractor?
- The level of life insurance cover required
- How many years the policy is required to last
- Who are the beneficiaries of your life insurance cover?
For a fast, free, no-obligation quote for Contractors' Life Insurance cover you can fill in a quick form available by tapping the button below.
Income Protection Cover for Contractors
WeCovr can provide competitive income protection cover quotes. If you are unable to work due to illness or injury, by having income protection cover you will be paid a regular income. Typically, the policy will pay out after a pre-agreed period which can vary from one month to one year after you make a claim.
As with life insurance cover, the riskier your occupation, the higher the perceived risk. Some of the common questions asked to formulate a quote can include:
- What level of income will you require?
- What is your current occupation as a contractor?
- Outline tasks involved in your daily activities
Critical Illness Cover for Contractors explained
Critical Illness Cover is designed to pay out a lump sum if you have to go through a medical procedure or are diagnosed with a critical illness and survive at least ten days from diagnosis. The lump sum amount is to assist dependents financially while letting you concentrate on your diagnosis and recovery without having to worry about finances.
The list of illnesses that are part of critical illness cover includes but are not limited to some of the following:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Blindness
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Some types of cancer
- Heart attack
- Stroke
To offer you best value-for-money insurance plans, WeCovr's insurance partners will need to ask several questions, including:
- How long do you want your policy to last?
- Do you want level or decreasing cover?
- Do you want to add a terminal benefit to your critical illness cover?
Get a free, no-obligation quote today for Contractors' Life Insurance cover – protect your family!
Benefits offered by income protection, life and critical illness insurance
Life insurance, income protection and critical illness insurance are indispensable for every family because a child loses a parent every 22 minutes in the UK, while every single day tragically 60 people suffer major injuries on the UK roads. Some people become unable to work because of sickness or disability.Life insurance cover pays out a lump sum to your family, loved ones or whomever you choose to get the money. This can be used to secure the financial future of your loved ones meaning they would not have to struggle financially in the event of your death.
If it's a critical illness cover, the payout happens sooner - upon diagnosis of a serious illness, disability or medical condition, easing the financial hardship such an event inevitably brings.
Income protection insurance can be very important for anyone who relies on a pay check to cover their living costs, but it's especially important if you’re self-employed or own a small business, where your employment and income is a bit less stable. It pays a regular income if you can't work because of sickness or disability and continues until you return to paid work or you retire.
In a world where 1 in 4 of us would struggle financially after just four weeks without work, the stark reality hits hard – a mere 7% of UK adults possess the vital shield of income protection. The urgency of safeguarding our financial well-being has never been more palpable.
Let's face it – relying on savings isn't a solution for everyone. Almost 25% of people have no savings at all, and a whopping 50% have £1,000 or less tucked away. Even more concerning, 51% of Brits – that's a huge 27 million people – wouldn't last more than one month living off their savings. That's a 10% increase from 2022.
And don't even think about state benefits being a safety net. The maximum you can expect from statutory sick pay is a mere £109.40 per week for up to 28 weeks. Not exactly a financial lifeline, right?
Now, let's tackle a common objection: "But I have critical illness insurance. I don't need income protection too." Here's the deal – the two policies apply to very different situations. In a nutshell:
- Critical illness insurance pays a single lump sum if you're diagnosed with or undergo surgery for a specified potentially life-threatening illness. It's great for handling big one-off expenses or debts.
- Income protection, on the other hand, pays a percentage of your salary as a regular payment if you can't work due to illness or injury. It's the superhero that tackles those relentless monthly bills.
Types of life insurance policies
Common reasons for getting a life insurance policy are to:✅ Leave behind an amount of money to keep your family comfortable
✅ Protect the family home and pay off the mortgage in full or in part
✅ Pay for funeral costs
Starting from as little as a couple of pounds per week, you can do all that with a Life Policy.
Level Term Life Insurance
One of the simplest forms of life insurance, level term life insurance works by selecting a length of time for which you would want to be covered and then deciding how much you would like your loved ones to receive should the worst happen. Should your life insurance policy pay out to your family, it would be in a lump sum amount that can be used in whatever way the beneficiary may wish.
Decreasing Term Life Insurance
Decreasing term life insurance works in the same way as level term, except the lump sum payment amount upon death decreases with time. The common use for decreasing term life cover is to protect against mortgage repayment as the lump sum decreases along with the principal of the mortgage itself.
Increasing Term Life Insurance
Increasing term life insurance aims to pay out a cash sum growing each year if the worst happens while covered by the policy. With increasing term life cover amount insured increases annually by a fixed amount for the length of the policy. This can protect your policy's value against inflation, which could be advantageous if you’re looking to maintain your loved ones’ living standards, continue paying off your mortgage in line with its repayment schedule and cover your children’s education fees.
Whole of Life Insurance
Whereas term life insurance policies only pay out if you pass away during their term, whole of life insurance pays out to your beneficiaries whenever this should happen. The most common uses for whole life insurance are to cover the costs of a funeral or as a vehicle for your family's inheritance tax planning.
Family Income Benefit
Family income benefit is a somewhat lesser-known product in the family of life insurance products. Paying out a set amount every month of year to your beneficiaries, it is the most cost-effective way of maintaining your family's living standards to an age where you'd expect them to be able to support themselves financially. The most common use would be for a family with children who are not working yet so are unable to take care of themselves financially.
Relevant Life Insurance
Relevant Life Insurance is a tax-efficient policy for a director or single employee. A simple level term life insurance product, it is placed in a specific trust to ensure its tax efficiency. The premiums are tax deductible and any benefit payable should a claim arise is also paid out tax free, which makes it an attractive product for entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Important tips you MUST know before you buy Life Insurance to avoid a terrible mistake
1. Picking the type of cover and the term you need can save you many thousands over 20 years
Though an agent or adviser can help, this question is completely down to you. The main thing to consider is what is the reason for getting life insurance and what will the payout be used for. If it is for funeral expenses you probably want to insist on a whole of life insurance policy - these typically pay less commission to the agent than term policies so you might need to ask specifically for a whole of life quote.Whole of life insurance means you are covered until you die, regardless of how long you live for. As you are looking for your funeral to be covered and no-one knows when they are going to die, whole of life is the only way to guarantee a pay-out.
If, on the other hand, you have young children and you want to make sure that should the worst happen your kids don't suffer financial hardship, then you probably need a term life insurance policy. This is much, much cheaper then whole of life insurance. For example, let's say you are a 40 year old and you have two kids aged 5 and 7. You need life insurance as you know if anything happens to you there will be a huge reduction in the household income and possibly an increase in childcare costs. You still need the roof over their heads, food on the table and clothes on their backs, so they will need financial help to avoid being forced to move house and rely on state help.
So let's say you think £250,000 will get the mortgage paid off and leave some money behind to ensure they don't suffer financially. On a whole of life basis this will cost you at least £165 every single month. Or, you can get a lower cost term policy to age 90 for a much more reasonable £39 per month. But, wait a second, the reason for the cover was for your young kids aged 5 and 7 to make sure they don't suffer financially, right? So when your 90 years old, your kids will be in their 50's.....older than you are right now! The mortgage will be paid off and the kids will (hopefully) be earning their own money by then and buying their own food and clothes.
So let's look at matching the term to the reason you need the cover in the first place......think roughly what age will your kids no longer be financially dependent upon you. Even play it safe a little, say when they are 25 and 27. Okay so we can look at a 20 year term, meaning if anything happens to you while the kids are financially dependent on you, there is £250,000 to help them out. This brings the cost down for the same level of cover to only £15 per month.
Total cost over 20 years for the £250,000 of cover:
Whole of Life = £39,770
Term to 90 = £23,400
20-year term family protection = £3,600 (£36,170 saving on Whole of Life and £19,800 saving against term to 90)
These are pretty big savings and money that can be spent on enjoying life!
2. Non-disclosure could see your claim declined or cut in half
The answers you give on the medical application are YOUR responsibility. You will be warned to answer all questions truthfully and accurately otherwise a policy may not pay out in the event of a claim. But what if you miss a question or the agent you speak to doesn't put it in the application?Well these mistakes could cost your family tens of thousands of pounds. Let's take the smoking question as an example, typically they will ask if you have smoked or used tobacco products in the last 12 months. Let's say you say to the agent that you used to smoke, but haven't for about a year. If the agent just puts in "no" and it turns out that your doctor records show you still smoked 8 months ago, the provider could decrease the payout by around half.
So you might have insured yourself for £100,000 to cover your mortgage and leave money for the kids, but the policy pays out £50,000 which might not even cover the mortgage.
Worse still if a serious medical condition is not disclosed that would have resulted in the provider not offering terms, the claim will be declined and all your family will get is their premiums returned.
3. Don't fund the taxman
Ask about trust. Putting your policy into trust can save thousands in inheritance tax and probate costs. Inheritance tax could swipe up to 40% of the value of the policy out your families hands into the tax mans pocket. You can use our inheritance tax calculator to estimate your potential inheritance tax liability and savings or you can ask your agent or provider for a trust form and ask them to help you fill it out. This is free, but the savings can be tens of thousands of pounds for your family when they need it most."I was shocked when I found out 40% of my sum assured could end up going on tax. The consultant was able to put it in trust online for me in 5 minutes, potentially saving my children £120,000"
4. Watch out for loaded premiums from banks and mortgage advisers!
This is a tactic used by many banks and some mortgage and financial advisers. Basically they take the standard premium then hike on an extra amount to get more commission.Easy way to check though, go to a site like WeCovr where you can get an expert to provide you a range of quotes. If your bank or adviser loads their premiums, the policy you are getting is identical but can cost you 20% more....which over the term could cost you thousands.
As an example we looked at Santander who offer life insurance from Aviva. The results were shocking! Everything is the same - same date of birth, same smoking status, same policy term, same amount of life insurance and crucially, the same provider. So why is the "discounted" Santander policy nearly £5 more expensive every month? Well we don't know the exact details of the commercial arrangement, but you have to assume the extra is going into the bank's back pockets.
So watch out for big banks and their discounts and loyalty bonuses, really they are just discounting an already massively inflated price.
5. It's not cheaper going direct, in fact it can be more expensive
An extremely common myth is going direct to the insurer will save you money because they don't need to pay commission to the broker. This is true, but they do need to pay for their advertising, their staff and overheads. With a broker they only pay if you buy, so often brokers can get lower prices than going direct to the provider.If you want the best price, you're almost always going to get the best deal from a broker.
Why is it important to get life insurance early?
👉 Many people are very thankful that they had their life, income protection, and critical illness insurance cover in place before running into some serious issues. Critical illness and income protection insurance is as important as life insurance for protecting your family's finances.👉 We insure our cars, houses, bicycles and even bags! Yet our life and health are the most precious things we have.
Easily one of the most important insurance purchases an individual or family can make in their lifetime, the decision to buy life, income protection, critical illness and private medical health insurance can be made much simpler with the help of FCA-authorised advisers. They are the specialists who do the searching and analysis helping people choose between various types of life insurance policies available in the market, including income protection, critical illness and other types of policies most suitable to the client's individual circumstances.
It certainly won't do any harm if you speak with one of our experienced FCA-authorised insurance partner experts who are passionate about advising people on financial matters related to life insurance and are keen to provide you with a free consultation.
You can discuss with them in detail what affordable life, income protection, critical illness or private medical health insurance plan for the necessary peace of mind they would recommend! WeCovr works with some of the best advisers in the market.
By tapping the button below, you can book a free call with them in less than 30 seconds right now:
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Who Are WeCovr?
WeCovr is an insurance specialist for people valuing their peace of mind and a great service.👍 WeCovr will help you get your life insurance, critical illness insurance, private medical health insurance, over-50s funeral insurance and senior life insurance quote in no time thanks to our wonderful super-friendly expert partners ready to assist you every step of the way.
Just a quick and simple form and an easy conversation with our FCA-authorised life insurance, critical illness insurance and private medical insurance partner experts and your valuable insurance policy is in place for that needed peace of mind!