Have you considered what to do to protect yourself and your family from the financial challenges that come with involuntary redundancy? What about incapacity for injury or illness? Many people have not because they assume they are secure in their job, or they feel comfortable that the government would support them during unemployment or incapacity. Job security is becoming harder to find these days and the reality is that State assistance is not as common as you might think. Your best alternative for financial security is to buy unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland.

You can do this through the purchase of a product from an umbrella of solutions known as payment protection insurance. This will protect you against the financial fallout of being made redundant, and for a further fee, sickness and accident insurance can be added on too.

Mortgage payment protection, loan payment protection, and income payment cover are the three products that form the payment protection insurance portfolio. Collectively, these products serve as unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland as each pays monthly benefits that replace lost job income from a covered event. Individually, they have more specific functions. Mortgage cover is commonly used to protect your home by enabling you to keep up with monthly mortgage repayments. Loan protection is used to manage personal loan and credit card debt. Income payment cover is generally beneficial with regard to keeping current with bill payments and other financial obligations.

An overview of unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland

When you look to buy a payment cover policy, there are some important components of the products that you have to closely scrutinize to make the best choice. One is the length of your prospective benefits payout. Some policies would pay you benefits over the course of 12 months, while others payout for a 24 month period.

Another important factor is the starting point for benefits. Some policies begin to pay after 30 days, which is nice for people that rely on monthly income to survive. Other plans would deliver the first benefit payment after 60 or 90 days, which might work if you have some savings or other income sources.

Your maximum benefit is usually the lesser of 1500 Pounds or half your regular gross monthly income, whichever is less. Some people try to save premiums buy taking on a lesser amount of cover. This is not generally advised unless you have savings or other sources of funds to help sustain you.

In order to even collect benefits from payment cover products, you usually have to be employed full time for a period of at least six months. This product portfolio is not directed at people that are retired, employed part time or those that have pre-existing medical conditions.

Standard events protection by payment protection

Involuntary redundancy is a primary protection offered by unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland. However, as noted, you can usually add benefits for incapacity due to accident or illness that leaves you unable to work for an extended period of time.

Some people don’t need the benefits for incapacity because their employers already offer adequate support for such situations. Others do want to protect themselves from these situations, but decide to save money by not taking on redundancy benefits. This is somewhat risky, but might make sense if you have savings and can quickly find new work.

Comparing opportunities to buy payment cover

There are two basic providers of unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland. One is financial institutions, and the other is independent insurance specialists. As consumers become more aware of this insurance sector, they are recognizing that there is really no comparison in terms of the value offered by independent insurance specialists to that of institutions.

Financial institutions controlled payment protection for years because of their ability to bundle their expensive policies with loan products and pressure unknowing consumers into taking it on. Thanks to a 2005 super complaint by Citizen’s Advice, this practice has largely been deterred. The complaint was referred by the Office of Fair Trading to the Competition Commission, who concluded its review with several recommendations for improvement in payment protection. One of the resolutions placed a seven day ban on the sale of payment cover to a new loan customer. This frees consumers to shop the open market and take advantage of more affordable plans from independent providers.

Independent specialists have maintained a better reputation for service and support. Typically they also have better rates on unemployment insurance in Northern Ireland. Mortgage cover runs about four times less expensive. Income payment cover is around five times cheaper. Loan payment protection can be as much as ten times cheaper from a specialist, versus a financial institution.

Related Posts

• Income protection in Northern Ireland
• Mortgage payment protection insurance in Northern Ireland explained
• Loan protection in Northern Ireland – why you may need it
• Mortgage payment protection in Northern Ireland – why you may need it
• Finding out more about income protection insurance in Northern Ireland