A working week made of many small contracts
Few coaches have one employer. A typical week might mix after-school sessions paid by an agency, evening training for a grassroots club, private one-to-ones at weekends and holiday camps in the summer. Each one pays only when you turn up.
That patchwork makes sick pay rare. Even where you are on a school payroll, the hours may be too few for much contractual pay. A ruptured Achilles tendon or a bad bout of illness can take out every income stream at once.
Coaches also spend a lot of time driving between venues, often with a car full of cones, balls and bibs. Outdoor sessions in winter rain bring their own colds and chest infections, and none of it pays if you cannot turn up.
Pulling your income together for an insurer
If you are self-employed, insurers use your profit from your tax return. If you have a mix of PAYE and self-employed work, most will add the two together. Expect to show a couple of years of figures, since summer camps and term-time work make single months misleading.
Coaching qualifications from your sport's governing body and a current DBS check are worth mentioning. They help an insurer see coaching as your real profession and not a side hobby.
Coaches who started out as players sometimes earn more from summer camps than from the whole winter. Let the insurer see the whole year so they understand the pattern and do not judge you on a slow term.
What the insurer asks about your sport
Insurers group occupations into classes by how likely you are to be unable to work. A tennis coach feeding balls is a different picture from a rugby coach taking contact in drills. Some insurers ask whether you still play competitively, as that adds risk outside work too.
Your class affects the price and the incapacity definition on offer. Own occupation cover pays if you cannot coach. A wider definition could ask whether you could do other work, so we check this for every quote.
- Say which sport you coach and how physical the sessions are
- Mention any competitive playing, diving or extreme sports
- Share past injuries honestly, even minor ones
Choosing a waiting period and adding life cover
Coaches on school contracts sometimes have a few weeks of sick pay, so they can set the deferred period to start when that runs out. Fully freelance coaches tend to want payments to begin sooner.
Life insurance is separate and pays a lump sum if you die during the policy. It can repay a mortgage or give your family an income. If you work for a school or council, check whether you have death in service through the pension, and whether it would leave with you if you moved on.
How Hi Tomorrow helps coaches
We take the full list of your coaching work and present it to insurers as one clear picture. That avoids being rated on the riskiest single task when most of your hours are lower risk. We compare definitions, waiting periods and prices, then stay with you through the application and any claim.
We can also look at whether critical illness cover makes sense alongside income protection, so a serious diagnosis brings a lump sum as well as a monthly income.