HMRC doesn’t treat Group Income Protection policies as a P11D benefit. Monthly premiums, however, qualify as an allowable business expense and so are tax-deductible.

Policies offer full-term of short-term payout options.

• Full-term payout provides for the employee until they can go back to work.
• Short-term payout covers the employee for a limited time.

You can make multiple claims on each option.

Once your employee meets the pre-requisites of the insurance, the coverage will then start from the entry date. The entry date can be found on both the quote and the policy.

Generally, not, but do check with your policy provider. However, they usually require an employee’s medical history and/or will be required to fill-in a questionnaire.

They are one and the same. The only difference is the terminology used. International Business Income Protection is split into two products:

1. International Short-Term Disability
2. International Long-Term Disability

However, they both do the same thing – providing financial security for employees and employers when a member of staff has an accident or illness and is unable to perform their job.

The only difference between them is how long after the unfortunate event that the payout kicks in. The short-term version can be deferred up to two years after the event, but the long-term product comes into play after two years. See secton ‘What is International Group Income Protection’ for more information.

As a business purchasing the insurance for your employees, you can choose how much of the salary you are looking to cover. This can range from 50% to 80% although 60 – 80% is more common.

The amount of salary that you cover impacts the premium that you pay.

Again, the employer sets this limit, generally between 50% and 80%. If short-term disability is also in place, then the business will decide whether to maintain the same level of protection, or alter it.

There are no set qualifying events or a list of illnesses that need to be met for the insurance to kick in, solely that the employee has been declared unfit to perform the duties of their job, and that the minimum criteria for a claim as been met, as per the above points.

As per the above answer for short term disability, there is no set qualifying event or list of illnesses to be met, however the minimum claim criteria will need to be satisfied, as outlined above.

There is no minimum time off. However, for a claim to start being paid, the employee would need to be unable to do their job for longer than the deferred period (the point at which the policy is due to start paying out) that has been set on the plan.

International Long-Term Disability would only start after either 2 years, or the end of the International Short-Term Disability coverage, if it had been taken.

International Short-Term Disability covers the employee or expatriate team member for up to two years after the chosen deferred period.

International Long-Term Disability can provide a percentage of an employee’s or expat employee’s wage right up to the age of 65, should they be unable to return to work due to the illness or injury suffered.

This is down to the discretion of the employer, not the policy. Most employers will still fund other benefits for the short term, particularly if they are using benefits like International Health Insurance or an International Employee Assistance Programme to aid their recovery.

In the long term, employers may reduce or stop funding these benefits if they are not actively employed and if it does not breach contract of employment.

The affected employee may wish to use their sick pay in order to invest in these benefits personally – most International Health Insurance providers will offer what is called a ‘continuation option’. This allows the employee to transfer from the company scheme to a personal scheme on a similar level of cover, or less, without any additional underwriting to maintain the coverage you received on the company scheme.

Employees and expats can apply for new jobs while receiving International Business Income Protection.

However, should they accept an offer and start a new job it would affect them receiving their monthly pay outs.

The precise impact depends on the work, remuneration, whether they were receiving short or long-term disability, and the rules and processes of the particular insurer.

The employee would be advised to seek out professional guidance and speak to the insurer paying disability insurance before actively looking for a new job to ensure they are not left in a worse position.