Leading UK income protection insurance provider asks who should be responsible for sick pay

Whether it’s state-funded, self-funded or employer-funded, the simple fact is, if a person is unable to work due to illness or injury, they still need an income to be able to pay the bills and maintain a reasonable standard of living. The big question is, who should be paying for it? 

It seems the government has joined in the debate, with Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith being reported as saying he was “very keen to look at the possibility of people using flexible products to build up savings from which they can draw at times of need.”

He went on to say, “We need to support the kind of products that allow people to dip in and out of when they need money for sickness or care or unemployment.”*

Mike Perry, CEO of income protection insurance specialists, PG Mutual commented, “We welcome the government taking a serious interest in the reality of how people cope financially if they find themselves on sick leave. We have been offering the kind of products Mr Duncan Smith wishes to support for over 80 years. Our hope is that if the government do take this further, they consider recommending products from mutual suppliers like ourselves, and furthermore suppliers of Holloway products which give the customer an insurance policy as well as a savings element – just one of the many benefits of not having to pay big bonuses to shareholders!”

“We have seen a year on year increase in the number of people taking out income protection policies. All our members tell us the same thing, they don’t want to leave things to chance hoping that if something does happen to them, someone else will take care of them.”

This increase in membership is not surprising when you consider that Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is just £88.45 per week, yet the average household weekly spend is £517.00^  – not nearly enough for most people to cover the bills. We should be asking ourselves, can we really expect our employers or the government to pick up the tab for our sickness bills? Or should we be taking responsibility for ourselves, and putting a plan in place to protect our financial security throughout our working lives?

*Mail Online – www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3159731/pm-consider-sickpay-change.html

^Office for National Statistics 2014

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