Income protection insurance

Income Protection Insurance (IPI) also known as loss of earnings insurance is an insurance policy paying benefits to policyholders who are incapacitated and hence unable to work due to illness or accident. This is typically a replacement for lost income suffered by the policy holder. These policies were formerly called Permanent Health Insurance (PHI). This type of insurance does not normally cover redundancy and does not pay for medical treatment, it is designed to only pay a monthly amount to cover the loss of income by the policy holder when they are unable to work due to illness or accident.

Income Protection Insurance is principally available in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. A similar insurance product is available in the United States know as "disability income insurance" (disability insurance). A study by British insurer Legal & General in 2014, titled "Deadline to the Breadline Report", found that only 8% of UK households had income protection insurance.^[1]