Introduction

To celebrate our Diamond Jubilee, the Friendly Society are offering free cover up to the end of 2008, when you apply for Income Protection (IP).

Being healthy day in and day out, year after year of your working life is a pretty tall order, and like most of us you probably succumb to the odd day off for minor ailments, but what if a more severe illness or injury prevented you from earning an income for a longer period of time? How would you keep up your mortgage payments, run the car, pay credit cards and daily living expenses, such as food, clothing, phone bills etc.

Income Protection is probably not something you think about when you head off to work each day or go for that weekend drive or overseas holiday. You insure your home and car without a second thought and you always organise travel insurance, but you also need to cover yourself!

Official figures show that the number of people in the UK of working age who are long-term sick has fluctuated between 2.1 and 2.2 million since the late 1990s.

State benefits offer only minimal help after 28 weeks continuous incapacity, eligibility is strict and claimants must undergo a 13 week assessment. Even if they qualify, benefits are not generous and they are currently taxable..

An Income Protection plan may be the answer - it pays a regular income designed to protect your standard of living if you suffer long-term illness or injury, and once in force the insurer cannot cancel the plan, no matter how often you claim. Some plans also pay lump sums to help meet the costs of being longterm sick.

Although there are a number of insurance companies who offer this type of insurance, not all of them will provide cover for those in the police serviceas they consider the occupational risks to be too great, while those that do offer cover charge extra.

Your Friendly Society recognised this, and in 1997 introduced a straightforward and competitively priced Income Protection plan tailored to your conditions of service, but unlike other schemes available to police officers and police staff:

• there is no limit on the value of any claim,
• there is no limit* on the duration of any claim, and
• there is no limit on the number of times you can claim.

The plan also includes a critical illness benefit which will pay a one-off lump sum, regardless of whether or not  you are unable to work.

*Eligibility criteria applies, see 'How will you assess my claim' . All cover ceases at age 60.