Unemployment-Insurance.co.uk is the premier site on the Internet for information and guidance on disability insurance
If you do not benefit from a work sponsored disability insurance scheme then you need to consider your own disability insurance plan.
Short term disability insurance plans normally pay out for a maximum of 24 months and benefits commence usually after 30 days.
Long term disability insurance also known as permanent health insurance can pay out until age 65 and usually have a choice of deferred benefits starting from 4 weeks and increasing up to 52 weeks. The longer deferred benefits are suitable for people with substantial savings or an employer sponsored scheme such as that provided by the civil service or NHS. These long term plans normally do not offer any element of unemployment cover.
When considering long term income protection it is important to ensure that you select the correct occupation definition:-
The first definition defines a disability as a condition that prevents you from performing the major duties of your occupation. This is as opposed to any occupation where the disability policy would not pay out if you were able to do any kind of work
This is obviously less favourable than own occupation and is more suited to people in manual occupations. Both types of policy may continue to pay you a proportion of the benefit if you return to work for less money.
Sometimes it pays to take advice if you want to know more about the benefits of each individual plan.