A step-by-step guide to buying Eleos income protection

A short introduction to income protection

Since you’re reading this, you probably have an idea of what income protection is, what it does and who it’s for. Before we take you through the application process, it’s worth having a quick recap.

Income protection insurance is designed for anyone who works for a living – employed or self-employed. It gives them a regular monthly income to replace a significant proportion of their earnings if they find themselves unable to work because of physical or mental illness or injury.

Protecting your income then…

Income protection started life among the new factory workers of the industrial revolution for whom there was no financial help when they couldn’t work. Friendly societies were set up as income protection clubs in which all the members contributed to a central fund that was used to support the unlucky ones who fell ill or got injured and had to stop working. Friendly societies still exist, although they’re now established as part of the insurance industry. Our own underwriters are called Shepherds Friendly. 

Protecting your income now…

The 20th century saw the introduction of various state benefits, the establishment of statutory minimum sick pay and the adoption amongst some employers of a more generous provision for sick leave pay. However, these measures still don’t provide a universal safety net that’s sufficient to meet everyone’s needs, so income protection insurance remains as important as it always was.

For decades, insurance of all kinds has been sold using the broker model, in which the underwriting process– the assessment of risk and pricing of cover – relied on lengthy phone interviews. Despite the rise of ecommerce, the insurance industry has been slow to develop truly digital insurance solutions, which is what makes Eleos different. Many insurers who offer you the chance to purchase income protection online stop short of a fully digital process. They have mechanisms to provide online income protection quotes but often switch at that point to telephone contact. Our customer journey, from initial quote through to approval, purchase and claiming, is entirely digital. It’s designed for speed and convenience, giving consumers more control than traditional routes.

How to buy income protection from Eleos

Our customer purchase journey consists of five steps that take only a few minutes to complete.

1. Quote

First you’ll need a quote. We ask you for your age, occupation and salary, which is all we need to give you an idea of how much cover we can offer and how much it’s likely to cost you.

2. Personalisation

Once you’ve got this basic information you can use the various tools on our website to adjust the cover and price to suit your needs and budget. The factors you can change are:

Cover: what we’ll pay you when you can’t work

Premium: what you’ll pay each month to maintain your policy

Waiting period: how long you can wait between stopping work and getting paid

Benefit period: the maximum time your payments will last while you’re off work

The income protection waiting period plays an important role in both how your benefit payments work and how much your policy will cost. You can read about it in detail here.

Once you’ve finished personalising your insurance you’ll see a summary of your cover and information about the perks that come free with every Eleos policy. When you’re happy with your choices you move on to the next step.

3. Income protection eligibility

Your quote is provisional and doesn’t mean we’re ready to offer you the cover you’ve selected. First, we need to check some more details since there may be some aspects of your health, lifestyle and job that could affect your eligibility. This is done entirely online.

These are some of the issues we’ll need to consider:

• Do you have any pre-existing health conditions (illnesses or injuries you already have when you apply for insurance)?
• Is your job unusually dangerous (for example, working at heights or in the emergency services)?
• Have you any hazardous pastimes (such as extreme sports or sky-diving)?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions it doesn’t mean we can’t cover you. It just means that we may have to apply some restrictions to your policy. We call these income protection exclusions. For example, if you suffer from diabetes when you apply, we may not be able to cover you for absences from work that are caused by this illness. Aside from any exclusions, we may be able to insure you.

4. Decision time

A few moments after completing our online eligibility check you’ll see an onscreen message telling you the result. There are three possible outcomes:

Accepted: the cover you want with no restrictions

Accepted with exclusions: the cover you want with one or more exclusions, or possibly at a higher premium

Declined: unfortunately, the risk of insuring you is too high so we’re not able to offer you cover.

A decline is the outcome that none of us wants, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. If we didn’t set limits on the risk we cover then the cost of our income protection would be higher for everyone, so we have to strike a balance.

However, if you’re one of the minority we can’t cover, you have other options. We’ll refer you to Lifesearch, an independent insurance adviser that specialises in finding insurance cover for people who are unable to secure it elsewhere.

5. Checkout

You’ve chosen your cover, set your premium, confirmed your eligibility and had your application approved, all in a few minutes. Next you’ll have a chance to review your cover and we’ll ask a few consent questions. You’ll then be asked to set a password for your account and the final step is to complete your purchase by entering your payment details at the checkout. Once we have this information we’ll be able to take your monthly premium payments under your continuous payment authority (CPA) unless or until you tell us otherwise. We’ll take your payment on or near the same date every month.

Managing your Eleos income protection

Now your income is protected it’s time to start getting the most out of your account via your online dashboard.

Managing your policy

Once you’ve completed the process your policy documents will be ready for you to view in your personal dashboard. Log in with your email address and the password you set at the checkout, then you’ll have instant access to your online paperwork and claim form. Don’t forget to keep us updated about any changes in your job or circumstances so we can help you make sure you always have the right level of cover.

Membership perks

Your dashboard is the place to go when you want to take advantage of your free perks, including the GoGP 24/7 remote GP service and the cashback offer.

Invite a friend

And as a thank you for joining Eleos we’ll give you the chance to recommend us to friends and family. Everyone you refer who takes out a policy will get £40 added to the cashback wallet in their account – and you’ll get £40 for everyone who signs up.

Reviews

If you’re happy with your policy and our service – or even if you’re not – we’d appreciate your taking a minute to leave us a review on reviews.io. What our customers think is the best way to spread the word.