What happens when you claim on waiver
Imagine you hold a life insurance policy with waiver attached and a serious illness keeps you off work. Once the waiting period in your terms has passed and the insurer accepts the claim, it takes over your monthly premium. Your life cover carries on at full value, and your bank account sees no direct debit.
When you return to work, the waiver stops and you pick the payments back up. If you never recover enough to work, the insurer keeps paying until the policy ends or until the waiver's cut-off age, whichever comes first.
Tell the insurer as soon as you know a long absence is likely. It will ask for a claim form, details from your employer if you have one, and medical evidence from your GP or consultant. Keep paying your premiums while it looks at the claim, because a lapsed policy has nothing left to waive.
The definition of being unable to work
Insurers use the same kinds of tests they use for income protection. Own occupation means you cannot do your own job. Suited occupation means you cannot do any job that fits your experience. Some policies use a test based on daily tasks for people who are not in paid work.
The definition you are offered often depends on your job. A teacher may get own occupation wording, while someone in heavy manual work may be offered a stricter test. We check which one applies before you buy.
On a joint policy, waiver can cover one or both of you. Read whose illness triggers it. Some plans only waive premiums if the first named person cannot work, which would leave a gap if the other partner fell ill. Others cover both lives, usually for a slightly higher cost.
When waiver earns its place
Waiver matters most to people whose income would fall quickly if they got ill. If you are self-employed, or your employer only pays the legal minimum sick pay, the premiums on your cover could be one more bill you struggle with. Losing your life cover at the moment your health has changed would be a hard blow, because buying new cover later could be costly or impossible.
It matters less if you already hold income protection that would cover your bills, or if your employer pays full salary for a long period.
Waiver also has an age limit. Many insurers stop it in your fifties or early sixties, even if the main policy runs longer, because people retire and the risk of long illness rises. If your policy will run past that age, budget for paying your own premiums in the final years.
- You are self-employed or a contractor with no sick pay
- Your household relies on your earnings alone
- You hold long-term cover such as a 25 year mortgage policy
- Your health would make replacing the policy difficult
How Hi Tomorrow sets up waiver for you
We look at your sick pay, your savings and the cover you already hold, then tell you whether waiver is worth the extra cost. If it is, we compare waiting periods and definitions across the insurers on our panel and add it at the application stage, which is the simplest time to do it.
If you already have a policy without waiver, we can check whether your insurer will let you add it now. Some will, subject to fresh health questions.