Most of us insure the car. We insure the house, the boiler, the phone, and often the dog. But the thing that pays for all of it — our ability to get up and earn a living — usually goes uninsured entirely.
It’s an odd blind spot, and I think it comes down to two things. First, nobody enjoys imagining themselves too ill to work. Second, there’s a vague sense that “something would be sorted out.” Sick pay. The state. Savings. Family. Something.
So let’s actually do the sums, because the numbers are less comforting than the feeling.
What the state pays
If you’re an employee, Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 a week for the 2026/27 tax year. That works out at around £534 a month, and it lasts for a maximum of 28 weeks.
There were two useful changes in April 2026. SSP is now paid from the very first day of sickness — the old three-day waiting period has gone — and the Lower Earnings Limit has been removed, so employees who previously earned too little to qualify now do. If you earn under roughly £154 a week, you’ll get 80% of your average weekly earnings instead of the flat rate.
Better rules. Same modest amount.
After those 28 weeks are up, you’d be looking at new-style Employment and Support Allowance. For a single person aged 25 or over that’s £95.55 a week — about £414 a month — with a support component of £50.35 a week on top if you’re placed in the support group.
Now hold that figure up against your mortgage or rent.
What your employer pays
This is the bit most people genuinely don’t know, and it’s worth five minutes of your time this week.
Many employers offer contractual sick pay that’s more generous than the statutory minimum — often something like three months on full pay followed by three months on half pay, frequently linked to length of service. Some offer nothing beyond SSP. Some run a group income protection scheme that kicks in after six months and pays a percentage of salary for years.
The only way to know which of these applies to you is to read your contract or ask HR. I’d encourage you to find out before you need to know, rather than after.
And if you work for yourself?
There’s no SSP for the self-employed. None. If you’re a sole trader, a contractor, or a director paying yourself largely in dividends, the sick pay conversation simply doesn’t apply to you.
Around here that covers an awful lot of people — the trades, the contractors, the consultants, the hairdressers and the childminders. The safety net for that group is whatever they’ve built themselves.
The three types of cover, plainly
Protection products come with off-putting names, so here’s what each one actually does.
Income protection replaces part of your income — typically somewhere around half to two-thirds of gross earnings — if illness or injury stops you working. It pays monthly, like a wage, and keeps paying until you recover, retire, or the policy term ends, depending on the type you choose. Of the three, this is the one that maps most directly onto the problem described above.
Critical illness cover pays a one-off lump sum if you’re diagnosed with one of the specific conditions listed in the policy. It’s not the same as income protection: it pays out on diagnosis of a defined condition rather than on inability to work, and it pays once.
Life cover pays out on death, either as a lump sum or as an income for those left behind. It’s the most widely held of the three, usually because it was arranged alongside a mortgage.
They solve different problems. It’s common to see someone well covered for dying and completely uncovered for the far more likely scenario of being off work for a year.
Three details that decide whether a policy is any use
If you already hold cover, or you’re looking at it, these are the terms that matter most.
The deferred period. This is how long you wait after stopping work before the policy starts paying. Four weeks, thirteen weeks, twenty-six weeks, fifty-two weeks. A longer wait means a lower premium — but it needs to line up with however long your employer’s sick pay and your savings would realistically last. A policy with a six-month wait is of limited help if your money runs out at week eight.
The occupation definition. “Own occupation” means the policy pays if you can’t do your own job. “Any occupation” means it only pays if you can’t do any job you’re suited to. That difference is enormous. A surgeon who loses fine motor control can’t operate, but could probably do something. Under an “any occupation” definition, they may get nothing.
What you’ve already got. Death in service through work. An old policy bundled with a mortgage from 2009 that’s still quietly collecting a direct debit. Cover attached to a packaged bank account. People are sometimes underinsured and sometimes paying twice for the same thing, and both are worth knowing about.
Where to start
Not with a product. Start with a number.
Work out what one month genuinely costs you to stand still — mortgage or rent, council tax, utilities, food, transport, childcare, minimum debt payments. Not the lifestyle version. The keeping-the-roof-on version.
Then work out how many months your savings would cover that number, add whatever sick pay you’re entitled to, and see where the line runs out.
That gap, in months, is the entire question. Everything else is detail.
Sources for the figures: DWP benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027 and GOV.UK guidance on Statutory Sick Pay.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Any decision about protection cover should be based on your own circumstances. Protection policies have terms, exclusions and underwriting requirements, premiums may be reviewable, and cover typically has no cash-in value — if you stop paying premiums, cover ends.
