Quick answer · Updated August 2026
"Salary protection insurance" is simply another name for income protection: a tax-free monthly benefit of up to 60–65% of gross salary if illness or injury stops you working, paid after a chosen waiting period until you recover or retire. A healthy 30-year-old office worker protects £2,000/month from roughly £18–35/month.
How Salary Protection Works
- Benefit: up to 60–65% of gross salary — roughly matching take-home pay once tax-free status is counted.
- Trigger: any illness or injury that stops you doing your own occupation (insist on that definition).
- Waiting period: 4–52 weeks, chosen to match your sick pay — the biggest price lever.
- Duration: full-term policies pay to retirement age; budget versions cap at 1–5 years.
- Statutory reality it fixes: SSP is £118.75/week for 28 weeks — under a fifth of the average UK salary.
Typical Costs (August 2026)
| Profile | Benefit | Typical premium |
|---|---|---|
| 30, office-based, 13-wk wait | £2,000/mo to 67 | £18–35/mo |
| 40, office-based, 13-wk wait | £2,500/mo to 67 | £30–55/mo |
| 35, self-employed trade, 4-wk wait | £2,200/mo to 67 | £40–75/mo |
Indicative panel pricing August 2026. See the full provider ranking for claim-paid rates.
Provider shortlist and claim-paid rates: top income protection providers. Employed with good sick pay? Match the waiting period to when it ends and the premium falls ~30–50%.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — identical product, different marketing name. Both pay a tax-free monthly benefit of up to 60–65% of gross salary when illness or injury stops you working.
Up to 60–65% of gross salary at most insurers — deliberately close to your normal take-home once the benefit's tax-free status is counted, keeping some incentive to return to work.
Usually, with the waiting period set to when employer pay ends — six months of full pay means a 26-week wait, cutting the premium roughly in half while covering the genuinely dangerous long-term scenarios.