We Insure Our Phones. Most of Us Forget to Insure the Thing That Pays For Everything Else.
A clear, honest look at protection cover: what it is, why most people do not have it, and how to decide whether you should.
Written by Nick Ahearne
May 2026 | 12 min read
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE
A Pattern Most of Us Share
Most of us have phone insurance. A significant number of us have pet insurance. A large proportion of us have travel insurance, often ticked without much thought during the booking process.
And most of us have quietly, and entirely understandably, left the income that funds the mortgage, the rent, the food, the school run, and everything else, completely unprotected.
This is not a criticism. It is an observation. And the reason it is worth examining is not because something terrible is about to happen, but because understanding why we do it is, almost always, the thing that changes it.
This article is not designed to alarm you. It is designed to help you think clearly about one of the areas of personal finance that gets talked about least and matters most. Whether you decide to take action at the end of it or not, you will at least know exactly where you stand, and why.
Why We Avoid This Conversation
The question is worth asking directly. Why do most people insure their phone within days of buying it, and spend years meaning to look at income protection?
The answer is not laziness, and it is not ignorance. It is something considerably more human than either of those things.
We insure what feels likely to go wrong. Phone screens crack. Dogs eat things they should not. Luggage gets lost. These things feel plausible because we have seen them happen, or they have happened to us before. Serious illness and long-term incapacity feel remote, even when the data would suggest otherwise. This is a well-documented feature of how the human brain processes risk: we weight familiar risks heavily and unfamiliar ones lightly, regardless of their actual probability.
We unconsciously assume it will not happen to us. There is a cognitive bias, well evidenced in behavioural psychology, called optimism bias. Most people consistently underestimate their own likelihood of experiencing illness, accident, or early death, while accurately assessing the risk for others. It is not denial exactly. It is the normal baseline of a functioning human mind. The problem is that it does not interact well with financial planning.
Confronting this conversation means confronting something uncomfortable. Buying life insurance means sitting, however briefly, with the thought that you will die, and that someone will have to manage without you. Thinking about income protection means acknowledging that serious illness is something that could happen to you, not just to other people. These are not easy thoughts. The instinct is to close the browser and come back to it later. That instinct is entirely understandable. But later has a way of never arriving.
Nothing forces the moment. Pet insurance is offered when you register at a vet. Phone insurance is presented at the point of purchase. Travel insurance is part of the booking flow. Life insurance and income protection have no equivalent trigger. There is no checkout screen, no prompt, no natural moment that makes it feel urgent. It sits on the list, permanently and reasonably, beneath everything else that requires immediate attention.
The complexity feels disproportionate. Phone insurance has one question: yes or no. Protection cover involves decisions about how much, for how long, for what kind of event, in what structure. That complexity is real, even if a specialist can navigate it with you in fifteen minutes. For most people, the prospect of making a series of decisions they do not fully understand is enough to make the whole thing feel like something to return to.
None of this is a character flaw. All of it is a normal human response to a category of decision that is genuinely uncomfortable and structurally easy to defer. Recognising it for what it is, however, is the first step to deciding whether deferring it still makes sense.
"We insure the things we can see and hold. The income that funds them often goes entirely unprotected. That is not carelessness. It is a completely understandable human pattern. And it is worth examining."
What Protection Cover Actually Is
Protection cover is a category of insurance designed to ensure that your financial commitments can continue to be met if something significant happens to your health, your ability to work, or your life.
There are four main types. They each serve a different purpose, and most people do not need all four.
Life insurance pays a lump sum to the people who depended on your income if you die during the policy term. The money can be used to clear a mortgage, provide an income replacement, or simply ensure that the people you care about are not immediately facing financial difficulty at an already difficult time. It is typically the most straightforward of the four and, for most people, the natural starting point.
Income protection replaces a proportion of your income, usually between 50% and 70%, if you are unable to work due to illness or injury. It continues to pay out for as long as you remain unable to work, up to a specified limit, which in some policies extends to retirement age. This is the policy that most consistently surprises people: not in what it costs, but in how significant the gap it addresses actually is when they look at it clearly.
Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum on the diagnosis of a specified serious condition. Cancer, heart attack, and stroke are among the most common triggers, though the covered conditions vary by policy and provider. Unlike income protection, the payment is made on diagnosis rather than on the basis of whether you can work. The money is yours to use as you need it: to cover treatment costs, adapt your home, reduce debt, or simply create breathing room during a difficult period.
Private medical insurance provides access to private diagnosis and treatment without NHS waiting times. It is particularly relevant for conditions where speed of access to a specialist or treatment would meaningfully affect the outcome, or where the ability to continue working depends on prompt intervention. It is the most variable of the four in terms of what it covers and what it costs, and the appropriate structure depends considerably on individual circumstances.
When It Matters Most
Protection cover is not universally necessary in equal measure for everyone. But there are situations where the absence of it represents a genuine and significant financial exposure.
If you have a mortgage in your name, and particularly if servicing it depends on your income rather than a partner’s, an extended period without that income has direct and concrete consequences. Mortgage lenders do not make exceptions for illness.
If you are self-employed, the gap is not just significant. It is total. Statutory Sick Pay does not apply to the self-employed: the £123.25 per week that represents an employee’s minimum safety net is simply not available to you. There is no employer sick pay, no group life cover, no death in service benefit, and no income protection through a workplace scheme. For sole traders and freelancers in particular, the position is direct: if you stop working, the income stops immediately and in full. There is also a practical detail that is often overlooked. Income protection policies are typically calculated as a proportion of pre-tax income. If your accountant has structured your income to be tax-efficient, the declared figure may be lower than what you actually need to live on, which affects the sum you can insure. It is worth discussing the structure of your income at the outset of any protection conversation, before a policy is arranged rather than after.
If you have financial dependants, including children, a partner whose income alone would not cover all commitments, or anyone else who relies on what you earn, the question of what happens if you cannot work is not a hypothetical one.
If your savings, while present, would not realistically sustain your current level of commitments for more than a few months, you are carrying a vulnerability that may not have been looked at clearly.
If you work in a role where your physical health is directly tied to your ability to earn, whether in a trade, a physically demanding profession, or a client-facing role where prolonged absence has career implications, the financial risk of incapacity is higher than average.
If any of the above sounds relevant to your situation, a conversation with a protection specialist can usually give you a clear picture within fifteen minutes. There is no obligation and no sales process. Just a straightforward conversation about where you stand.
When It May Not Be the Priority
This is the section that most articles on this subject leave out, because acknowledging it does not serve the purpose of selling a product. It is included here because advice that is not honest about its limits is not advice worth taking.
There are situations where some forms of protection cover are genuinely lower priority, or where existing provision already addresses the risk adequately.
If your employer provides substantial sick pay, covering twelve months or more at full or near-full salary, the gap that income protection would address is considerably smaller and may not justify the cost.
If you have significant liquid savings, sufficient to sustain your commitments for an extended period without income, you may already have a meaningful buffer. Protection cover is most valuable when the margin for error is thin.
If you have no mortgage, no dependants, and a strong financial position, some of the most common forms of life insurance and income protection are less immediately relevant to your situation.
What a proper conversation about protection should produce is not automatically a policy. It should produce an honest picture of where your risks actually are, which of those risks are worth addressing, which products would address them proportionately, and which ones you can reasonably deprioritise. Doing less, but doing it properly, is often the most sensible outcome.
"Doing less, but doing it properly, is often the most sensible outcome. Good protection advice tells you what you do not need as clearly as it tells you what you do."
The Cost Reality
One of the most consistent things that comes up in a first conversation about protection is the assumption that it will be expensive.
It is almost always wrong.
The cost of protection cover depends on age, health, occupation, the level of cover, and the policy structure. For a healthy person in their thirties or early forties, monthly premiums for a meaningful level of cover are frequently comparable to a gym membership or a streaming subscription. The specific figure depends on individual circumstances and requires a proper conversation to assess accurately. But the perception that this is unaffordable, which is the reason most people give for not looking at it, is not matched by the reality for the majority of people who go through the process.
What changes the cost significantly is age and health. Cover arranged later, or after a health event has occurred, may cost considerably more or in some cases be harder to arrange on preferred terms. That is not a reason to panic. It is simply worth knowing.
What the State Safety Net Actually Looks Like
When asked why they have not arranged income protection, a common answer is some version of: the state will cover it, or my employer will sort it out.
It is worth knowing what those safety nets actually look like in practice.
Statutory Sick Pay, as at April 2026, is £123.25 per week. That is the legal minimum your employer is required to pay if you are unable to work due to illness, assuming you qualify for it. For most people with a mortgage, household bills, and normal living costs, that figure represents a significant and immediate shortfall.
Some employers provide sick pay considerably above the statutory minimum. Others do not, or do so only for a limited period. It is worth checking your own employment terms clearly rather than assuming.
According to Aviva’s 2025 Claims and Wellbeing Report, the average income protection claim lasts six years and nine months. That is not a brief illness or a short recovery period. That is a significant and sustained period during which income would need to come from somewhere.
£123.25
Statutory sick pay per week as at April 2026
Source: GOV.UK
6 yrs 9 months
Average duration of an Income Protection claim
Source: Aviva Claims report 2025
97.9%
Individual protection claims paid consistently over the past decade
Source: ABI, 2025
If you are unsure what your employer sick pay actually covers, or what a gap in income would look like in practice for your household, that is a straightforward thing to work through with Nick. Most people find the picture clearer than they expected, in either direction.
Common Questions
What is income protection insurance?
Income protection is a policy that replaces a proportion of your income, typically between 50% and 70%, if you are unable to work due to illness or injury. It pays out on an ongoing basis for as long as you remain unable to work, up to a specified limit set in the policy. Unlike a critical illness lump sum, it is designed to function as a replacement salary rather than a one-off payment. Policies vary considerably in how they define inability to work, how long the deferred period is before payments begin, and whether premiums are guaranteed or reviewable. Taking advice before arranging cover is recommended.
Is income protection worth it?
For most working-age adults who rely on their income to meet ongoing commitments, income protection addresses a genuine financial exposure. Whether it is worth it for your specific situation depends on factors including your employment terms, existing savings, and what your employer would actually pay during a prolonged period of illness. The average income protection claim lasts six years and nine months, according to Aviva’s 2025 Claims and Wellbeing Report. For most people, that duration would represent a serious financial problem without cover in place. A short conversation with a protection specialist is the most reliable way to assess whether the cost is proportionate to your circumstances.
How much does life insurance cost in the UK
The cost of life insurance depends on your age, health, occupation, the level of cover you need, and the policy term. For a healthy person in their thirties, a meaningful level of cover is frequently available at a monthly premium that is lower than most people assume before they look into it. Premiums increase with age and with certain health conditions, which is why arranging cover earlier in life tends to be more cost-effective. A protection specialist can give you an accurate indication based on your individual circumstances. The figures quoted online are illustrative only and may not reflect what is available to you.
What does critical illness cover pay out for
Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum on the diagnosis of a specified serious condition. The conditions covered vary by policy, but typically include cancer, heart attack, stroke, and a range of other serious diagnoses. The payment is made on diagnosis, not on the basis of whether you are able to continue working. You can use the money however you need: to cover treatment costs, adapt your home, pay down a mortgage, or provide financial breathing room during a difficult period. Not all conditions are covered by all policies, and the specific definitions used matter considerably. This is one of the areas where taking proper advice, rather than purchasing directly, is most important.
Can I get income protection if I am self-employed?
Yes. Income protection is available to the self-employed and is, for many people in this position, one of the most important policies to consider. Unlike employees, the self-employed have no statutory sick pay, no employer sick pay, and no group protection through a workplace scheme. If you stop working, the income stops immediately. Policies for the self-employed are typically based on pre-tax income, which means the structure of your declared earnings is worth discussing at the outset. A protection specialist can help you work out an appropriate level of cover given how your income is structured.
Do I need life insurance if I have no dependants?
If you have no financial dependants and no mortgage, life insurance is generally a lower priority. The primary purpose of life insurance is to ensure that people who relied on your income are not left in financial difficulty. If no one depends on your income, the case for life insurance is weaker. Other forms of cover, particularly income protection, may be more relevant to your situation. A protection review will identify which risks, if any, are worth addressing given your specific circumstances.
A Conversation Worth Having
Nick Ahearne is Haupt & Co’s Protection Specialist. He has been working in protection for over ten years, and the conversations he has with clients are rarely the ones people expected.
The first conversation is almost never about products. It is about the picture: what your income is, what your commitments are, what you already have in place through your employer or existing policies, and where, if anywhere, there is a gap worth addressing. Sometimes the picture is reassuring. Sometimes it surfaces something that has been quietly sitting unexamined for years. Either way, most people leave the conversation with a clearer view of where they stand than they had before it.
Nick’s approach is not to find a reason to sell you something. It is to help you understand your situation accurately, and to recommend cover that is proportionate to the risks that actually exist in your life, not to an imagined worst case.
Most initial conversations take fifteen to twenty minutes.
"The first conversation is almost always the one people are most glad to have had. Not because it ends with a product. Because it ends with clarity."
The First Step
If you have been meaning to look at this and keep finding reasons not to, a short conversation with Nick is a sensible starting point. He will talk through your circumstances, your commitments, and what you already have in place, and help you form a clear view of whether there is a gap worth addressing.
There is no obligation. Just a clear picture of where you stand and what, if anything, it would be proportionate to do about it.
[email protected] 07868 789 552
The information in this article is for general guidance only and does not constitute a personal recommendation. Protection products vary in scope, coverage, and eligibility. Terms and conditions apply. Protection advice is based on individual circumstances following a full review with a qualified adviser. Haupt and Co Financial Ltd is an Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd (FCA No. 460421). FCA No. 1043131.
Sources
Statutory Sick Pay rate – GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay
Average income protection claim duration – Aviva Individual Protection Claims and Wellbeing Report, 2025: https://connect.avivab2b.co.uk/adviser/articles/news/protection/Evolving_the_Income_Protection_toolkit/
Individual protection claims paid rate – ABI, July 2025: https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2025/7/record-8bn-paid-out-in-vital-protection-claims-during-2024/