On November 1, a meeting was held between the Department of Work and Pensions and representatives of the Income Protection Taskforce to discuss the importance of income protection, MortgageIntroducer.com has reported.
One of the main concerns that the government has is how to safeguard mortgage payments if an employee loses their job.
The meeting discussed the government’s recently published ‘Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’. In this report, the government calls on the insurance industry to develop income protection policies to cover groups of employees.
Representatives from insurance organisations also attended the meeting. Roy McLoughlin, an insurance expert who attended, said:
“There is an acceptance from the government that insurance is part of the solution which is very good news. An education piece needs to be facilitated on behalf of individuals and also employers. The government’s primary concern is people’s mortgages. What’s everybody’s biggest liability if they’re ill? The mortgage.”
He disagreed with the government’s view that insurance companies should create cheaper group income protection insurance products. He said that there were already group income protection policies available at a reasonable cost to protect a firm’s employees.
Other delegates at the meeting discussed the need for the government to provide tax breaks for businesses taking out income protection policies.
Though not many small businesses have purchased group income protection insurance, employees can purchase their own income protection or mortgage protection policies. These products cover mortgage payments if the policyholder loses their job through illness, injury or redundancy.
