Regular household costs
Consider housing, food, childcare and other spending, alongside income and support that would remain. The chosen benefit is intended to help with those costs; it should not be based only on the current mortgage repayment.
Family Income Benefit
Help plan for your family’s regular costs.
Family Income Benefit is life insurance designed to provide regular payments rather than one lump sum. If you die during the policy term and the claim meets its conditions, payments normally continue until the agreed end of that term.
It can help you plan around ongoing household costs and the years your family may need support. The payment amount, end date and effect of rising living costs need consideration. It is different from income protection for illness or injury while you are alive.
Plan the amount and the end date together
The remaining term
The end date is chosen when the cover is arranged. A claim late in the term normally produces payments for fewer years than an earlier claim. It does not usually start a fresh full-length payment period.
Changing living costs
A fixed benefit can lose buying power as prices rise. Some policies offer increasing benefits, with different premium arrangements. Check both the future benefit and cost rather than assuming either will automatically keep pace with inflation.
An income and a lump sum do different jobs
Regular payments may fit ongoing household spending, while a lump sum may be useful for a debt or an immediate expense. Those are different needs, so compare the form of benefit as well as its amount. A family could need to consider both rather than treating one arrangement as a direct substitute for the other.
Choose the term around the period of financial dependence you want to address, then check how the insurer pays a valid claim and who receives the benefit. Term cover normally ends without a payout if you survive it. Review the arrangement when family circumstances change, and do not assume an existing policy can be extended or increased without conditions.
How protection advice works
Understand your needs
We’ll discuss your circumstances, existing cover and budget, including the people or commitments you want the insurance to support.
Explain the recommendation
We’ll explain the recommended policy, its premiums, benefits and important limitations, so you can consider what it would and would not cover.
Check the final terms
If you choose to proceed, the insurer assesses the application. Check the terms offered and the confirmed start date before relying on cover.
Getting started
Does it cover being off work?
Not on the basis of the name alone. Family Income Benefit is primarily life cover for your beneficiaries after death. Income protection is the separate type of policy designed around inability to work through illness or injury. Any additional benefits must be checked in the actual policy.
How do I choose the term?
Think about how long dependants may need financial support, rather than choosing a term only to reach the lowest premium. The chosen end date matters because a valid claim normally pays only for the time remaining. Your circumstances and budget need to be considered together.
Can the payments increase?
Some arrangements offer increasing benefits, but the options and associated premiums depend on the policy. A fixed amount does not automatically rise with household costs. Check what happens both before a claim and while benefits are being paid.
Cover, exclusions and claim conditions vary. Keep up the required premiums to maintain your cover.
