Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment Insurance (ASU)

With accident, sickness & unemployment insurance policies (ASU), you pay for an amount of monthly cover - usually between £0 and £2,000 - and if you lose your job or can't work, you get that amount of money each month to spend as you please. Policies usually pay out for up to a year or until you return to work, whichever happens first. It also can pay a cash lump sum if you die or become disabled during the policy.

Unemployment ONLY insurance Summary

• Up to £2,500 monthly benefit.
• No mortgage/loan required.
• Cover available for employed and self employed.
• Back to Day 1 Cover.
• No occupational/industry restrictions.
• Benefits payable for up to 12 or 24 months per valid claim.
• Multi-claim policy.
• Fully portable plan.
• You can choose between a benefit that pays for either 12 or 24 months.
• You can claim more than once provided you have been in employment for at least 6 months since the last claim.
• Carer Cover is automatically included. This pays a lump sum if you become a carer.
• Premium Waiver is included automatically. This means your premiums will be waived while you are unemployed.

Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance - Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages

• Worth taking out if you've taken out your mortgage or re-mortgage after October 1995, as you are unlikely to get any help from the state with your mortgage payments if you get into trouble.
• A good idea if you think making your mortgage payments would be difficult if you were made redundant or too ill to work and you don't have any other protection to cover household bills.
• May be useful to think about if you don't have a job which has sick pay or if you are self-employed.
• You can cover your mortgage and other items such as food and clothing and other associated costs.
• Cover starts from 30 days after taking the policy out and provides back to day one cover.
• You can cover up to £2,000 per month and this is not linked to your mortgage or income, therefore so long as you are willing to pay the premium you will be covered for the benefit you have stipulated when taking the policy out.

Disadvantages

• These types of cover pays for a limited time period, typically 1 to 2 years or until you return to work.

Accident, Sickness & Unemployment insurance (ASU) Explained

Accident, Sickness & Unemployment insurance (ASU), can also be referred to as mortgage payment protection and will provide you with an income to meet your outgoings if you are off work sick, have an accident or are made redundant. It pays out a monthly benefit to cover your mortgage and other related costs.

You may choose the amount of benefit you would like to receive, although there are some limits on the maximum amount. The premium will be a percentage of the amount of monthly benefit you would like to receive. Benefits are usually payable for a maximum of 12 months.

Some policies will also allow you to choose whether you want to receive benefits for accident & sickness only, unemployment only or all three. Most policies will also have a 'deferment period'. This is the time you have to wait to start receiving benefits from the ASU insurance policy after you have become ill, had an accident or become unemployed. Again, this can vary from having no exclusion period to 30, 60 or 90 days. In some instances, this can be even longer.

Alternatively some ASU insurance policies have a waiting period after which time the claim is paid in full. With a 30 day waiting period, on the 31st day of unemployment or disability the claim is back dated to day 1 & paid in full.

The main instances when you will not be covered are:

• deliberate self injury
• riding on a motorcycle
• dangerous sports or occupations
• working as a professional sports person
• any injury or condition related to normal pregnancy, stress, backache or which you had prior to your application for cover
• AIDS related conditions
• conditions due to drug and alcohol abuse
• or your criminal activity.

If you have also selected unemployment cover, you will not be covered if you knew or had reason to believe you might become unemployed, if your work is seasonal or temporary or you accept voluntary unemployment. If you are on a contract you can still qualify for unemployment cover if you satisfy certain conditions which are contained in the full policy details. A full list of exclusions will be provided with your policy.

Who is eligible for unemployment insurance cover?

Anyone can apply for an accident sickness & unemployment insurance cover policy as long as you are over 18 and you normally reside in the UK, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. You must also be in employment or self-employment for at least 16 hours per week and have been so for the last 6 months.

You can start claiming your income protection typically after just 30 days of being off work through illness or an accident as certified by your doctor. You can select to cover typically any amount up to £2,000. You can claim your daily income protection from just 30 days after you cannot work through sickness or an accident (or unemployment, if chosen) and continue to claim for up to a full year. As with other forms of personal protection insurances (e.g. life insurance, health insurance) premiums will gradually increase as you get older.