Gordon McMillan, specialist financial adviser for Wesleyan Financial Services, shares what to look for in insurance when replacing NHS sick pay benefits after moving from NHS to private.
When you’re exploring or are in the early stages of an NHS conversion there are some essential areas of protection for both your practice and you as an individual that are best addressed sooner rather than later.
Insurance policies are often viewed with some frustration. One of life’s annoying expenses that seem to bring little value to your lifestyle. That is until a rainy day comes and you are more than grateful to be protected.
If we’ve learned anything recently, it’s that life can throw unexpected curveballs that can derail our way of life. The pandemic being the most notable.
The big question is, if the bottom falls out of your financial security, do you really want the cheapest parachute?
Getting value from your insurance
It’s important to state that cost is a huge part of what makes a policy right for an individual. Particularly when you have other financial considerations at the forefront of your mind, such as replacing NHS income.
Moving from NHS to private may be a period where you look to tighten up your business and personal expenditure. There are also cases where dentists may be overpaying on insurance. If you have multiple policies in place, it’s good to review them with an expert to check for any unnecessary duplication in cover.
The key here is ‘value’ not ‘cost’ and striking the right balance. Obtaining the right insurance – not just the cheapest – will help to safeguard you against financial uncertainty. It will also make accidental loss manageable in future.
What insurance do dentists need to look at?
During the conversion from NHS to private, you will need to replace certain personal financial benefits. Your entitlement to sick pay is one important area to highlight.
It’s easy to think that you can put off replacing this benefit until things settle down in practice, particularly when you have a clean bill of health. But the unfortunate truth is that you can fall ill with very little warning.
Looking at income protection and critical illness cover can help put your family’s minds at ease. You will be able to continue maintaining your lifestyle expenses should the unexpected happen.
Look for a financial advice company that offers additional tools such as CI Expert. This kind of software provides a detailed critical illness product ranking system based on incidence statistics to help match policies to individual needs.
It also provides access to a detailed knowledge base of current policies and historical policies so that an unbiased comparison can be made, illness by illness. This ensures that you have the best cover and price for that type of cover on the market for you.
One final note on replacing your sick pay is that many policies offer a ‘work task’ definition. This means that if you succumb to an injury or illness that stops you practising as a dentist but not from taking up a new occupation, the policy may not pay out. Even if your new occupation only offers a fraction of the income you had previously earned.
It’s crucial for dentists that they have an ‘own occupation’ clause. This will ensure that if you cannot perform the duties of a dentist, you will still be covered.
Seek advice from specialists
If you are in need of advice in relation to replacing NHS benefits and reviewing your insurance policies, you can speak to a specialist financial adviser at Wesleyan Financial Services who really understands your profession.
If you are in need of advice in relation to replacing NHS benefits and reviewing your insurance policies, you can speak to a specialist financial adviser at Wesleyan Financial Services who really understands your profession.
Visit wesleyan.co.uk/dental or call 0800 316 3784.
