P R O T E C T I O N
Protection for professionals: why employer cover usually isn't enough — and what to do about it
You have death-in-service. You have some form of sick pay. You assume you're covered. Most of our clients do. But when we look at the numbers, the gap between what employer schemes provide and what your family would actually need is often significant — especially when your income includes bonuses, equity, or partnership drawings.
Y O U R T E A MWe raise protection with every client — because we think it matters, not because it's a profit centre
David Walsh
Director & Mortgage Broker
Founder of Kite Mortgages. Specialist in complex income structures for City professionals. Advises on mortgage strategy for high earners with partnership income, bonus-heavy pay, equity compensation, and foreign currency earnings.
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Simon Hart
Mortgage & Protection Adviser
Mortgage adviser at Kite Mortgages. Specialises in high-value purchases and remortgages for City professionals. Works with clients navigating complex income structures including variable pay, carried interest, and multi-currency earnings.
View profile →T H E R E A L I T YThe Gap in Employer Cover
Most City professionals have some protection through their employer. Death-in-service cover, perhaps a group income protection scheme, and a period of contractual sick pay. On the surface, that looks adequate.
The problem is what these schemes actually cover — and what they leave out.
Death-in-service is typically calculated as a multiple of basic salary: three or four times your base, paid as a lump sum. If you're a solicitor on £150k base with £200k of annual profit share, your family receives £450k to £600k. That might clear a portion of the mortgage, but it doesn't replace the income your family was relying on — and it doesn't account for the £200k that doesn't appear in the death-in-service calculation at all.
The same applies across most of the professions we work with. An investment banker whose bonus is double their base salary. A tech leader with £150k in annual RSU vesting. A trader whose variable pay makes up 70% of total compensation. In each case, employer death-in-service covers a fraction of actual earnings.
Critical illness cover through employers is often basic or absent entirely. Where it exists, it's usually a one-time payout at a fixed multiple of salary — again, base salary only. It doesn't reflect the true cost of stepping back from work for 12 to 18 months while continuing to pay a mortgage, school fees, and household costs at the level your family is accustomed to.
Income protection through employers typically covers a percentage of base salary for a limited period — often six months to two years. After that, you're on your own. For bonus-heavy earners, the gap between employer sick pay and your actual take-home is immediate and material.
B E T W E E N E M P L O Y E R S
The Job-Change Problem
There's a second issue that's easy to overlook: employer protection is tied to the job, not to you.
When you change employers — which City professionals do frequently — there's a gap between schemes. Your old employer's cover ends on your last day. Your new employer's cover starts after probation, if they offer it at all. If something happens during that window, you have nothing.
Even when you move seamlessly from one scheme to another, the terms may change. Your new employer's death-in-service might be three times salary instead of four. Their income protection might have a longer waiting period or a shorter payment term. You don't choose the terms — they're set by the group scheme your employer has negotiated.
Personal protection, by contrast, stays with you regardless of where you work, and the terms are locked in at the point you take it out.
L I F E I N S U R A N C E
Life Insurance for High Earners
If you have a mortgage of £1m or more, the question isn't whether you need life insurance. It's whether your existing cover is sufficient.
Decreasing term life insurance mirrors your mortgage balance — the payout reduces over time as your outstanding debt falls. It's the most cost-effective way to ensure the mortgage is cleared if the worst happens. Level term cover pays a fixed amount throughout the policy, which costs more but may be appropriate if you want to leave your family with funds beyond the mortgage itself.
Family income benefit is an alternative structure that pays a regular monthly income to your family rather than a lump sum. For many of our clients, this is a better fit — it replaces the income your family was relying on, in a form they can actually budget around.
The key point is this: employer death-in-service and personal life insurance aren't either/or. If your employer provides four times base salary and your mortgage is £1.5m, you have a gap. A personal policy fills it — and at the ages most of our clients are (late 20s into 40s), the premiums are relatively low.
C R I T I C A L I L L N E S S
Critical Illness Cover
Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a specified serious condition — typically cancers, heart attacks, strokes, and a defined list of others.
Most employer schemes either don't include critical illness cover at all, or provide it at a low level. For high earners with significant monthly commitments, the financial impact of a serious illness can be severe. Your mortgage payments don't stop. Your family's living costs don't stop. If you're an equity partner or self-employed, there's no employer to fall back on.
The objection we hear most often is "I'm in my 30s — I don't need this." Statistically, the probability of needing critical illness cover before retirement is higher than most people realise. And the practical reality is that premiums are significantly cheaper when you're younger and healthy. Waiting until you think you need it is usually the point at which it becomes expensive or unavailable.
I N C O M E P R O T E C T I O N
Income Protection
Income protection pays a monthly benefit if you're unable to work due to illness or injury. Unlike critical illness cover, which pays a one-time lump sum on diagnosis, income protection provides ongoing payments — typically until you recover, retire, or reach the end of the policy term.
For employed professionals, employer sick pay provides some cover, but it's usually limited to base salary and often runs out after six to twelve months. If your total compensation is £300k but your base is £120k, employer sick pay covers less than half your actual income. And most employer schemes have a fixed duration — once it expires, the payments stop whether you've recovered or not.
For self-employed professionals — LLP equity partners, barristers, sole practitioners — there is no employer sick pay. If you can't work, your income drops to zero immediately. Income protection is the only mechanism that replaces it.
The deferred period (the time between stopping work and the policy paying out) is worth thinking about carefully. If your employer provides six months of full sick pay, you can set a six-month deferred period and reduce the premium. The policy kicks in exactly when employer support ends.
T I M I N G
Why Acting Earlier Matters
Protection premiums are based on your age and health at the point you apply. A policy taken out at 30 will cost materially less than the same cover taken out at 40 — and your health may have changed in the interim, which could affect both eligibility and price.
Most of our clients are in their late 20s to late 30s. They're taking on large mortgages, often starting families, and their incomes are growing. This is the point at which protection is both most affordable and most necessary. The mortgage commitments are large, the dependants are young, and the premiums are low.
The longer you wait, the more it costs — and the greater the risk that a health event changes what's available to you.
T H E C O M P O U N D I N G R I S KWhat Happens When You Rely on Employer Cover and Then Lose It
This is the scenario we see most often — and the one that's hardest to fix after the fact.
You join a City firm at 28. You have death-in-service, group income protection, and reasonable sick pay. You don't think about personal cover because the employer scheme feels adequate. You move firms at 31 — the new scheme is slightly different but broadly similar. You move again at 34. This time the new employer doesn't offer income protection at all, and their death-in-service is three times base instead of four. You're now 34, you have a £1.2m mortgage, a young family, and less protection than you had six years ago.
At this point, buying personal cover is still perfectly possible — but it's more expensive than it would have been at 28. If you'd taken out a personal policy alongside the employer scheme when you first got your mortgage, you'd have locked in lower premiums for the full term. Instead, you're now paying more for the same cover, and you've had six years of exposure during which you were relying entirely on schemes you didn't control and couldn't take with you.
The practical advice is straightforward: take out personal cover early, even if your employer scheme looks adequate today. It's cheap to run alongside employer benefits, and it means you're never dependent on a scheme that disappears the moment you hand in your notice.
W H O T H I S A P P L I E S T OHow Protection Gaps Vary by Profession
The size and shape of the protection gap depends on how you're paid and whether you have an employer at all. If you're unsure where you stand, start with the guide below that matches your role.
Lawyers & Law Firm Partners
Equity partners are self-employed — no death-in-service, no employer sick pay, no group critical illness. Associates and salaried partners have employer cover, but it’s capped at base salary and excludes profit share.
View guide →
Investment Banking Professionals
Bonus-heavy compensation means death-in-service on base salary covers a fraction of actual income. Frequent moves between firms create gaps in employer cover that are easy to overlook.
View guide →
Private Equity Professionals
Carried interest, co-invest returns, and performance allocations aren’t reflected in employer protection schemes. Senior professionals at fund level may be partners with no employer scheme at all.
View guide →
Hedge Fund Professionals
Performance-linked pay and volatile year-on-year earnings mean employer death-in-service rarely reflects actual compensation. Fund partners often have no employer protection at all.
View guide →
Trading & Investment Professionals
Bonus-dominant pay structures mean base salary is often a small fraction of total compensation. Employer protection schemes cover the small fraction, not the full picture.
View guide →
Tech & Product Leaders
RSUs and stock options aren’t covered by death-in-service. Frequent job changes mean gaps between employer schemes are common — and cover lapses the moment you hand in your notice.
View guide →
R E L A T E D G U I D E S
Explore related guides
Bonus Income Mortgages
How lenders assess discretionary bonuses — and why the same income that’s excluded from employer protection is often underweighted by lenders too
Equity Compensation & RSU Mortgages
RSUs, stock options, and deferred equity — the income that employer death-in-service never covers
Interest-Only for High Earners
Why income protection matters even more if part of your mortgage is on an interest-only basis
Large Mortgage Loans
Routes to borrowing above £1m — where the protection gap is proportionally largest
F A Q sFrequently Asked Questions
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It depends on whether your death-in-service cover is sufficient. Most employer schemes pay three to four times your basic salary. If your mortgage is £1m and your death-in-service payout is £600k, there's a £400k gap — and that's before considering ongoing living costs for your family. Personal life insurance fills that gap, and at the ages most of our clients take it out (late 20s to late 30s), premiums are relatively low.
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Usually not. Death-in-service is typically calculated on basic salary only. Bonuses, profit share, RSUs, carried interest, and other variable pay are excluded. If your bonus makes up a significant proportion of your total compensation, the payout your family would receive may be substantially lower than the income they were relying on.
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Your employer protection ends when you leave. If your new employer has a probation period before cover starts — which is common — there's a gap during which you have no protection at all. Even after cover begins, the terms may be different: lower multiples, shorter income protection periods, or no critical illness cover. Personal protection stays with you regardless of where you work.
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This is actually the best time to take it out. Premiums are based on your age and health at the point of application. A policy taken out at 32 will cost significantly less than the same cover taken out at 45 — and your health may have changed in the interim, which could affect eligibility. The statistical probability of a serious illness before retirement is higher than most people expect.
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Generally not. As an equity partner in an LLP, you're self-employed. That means no death-in-service, no employer income protection, and no group critical illness cover. Some firms offer partners the option to buy into a group scheme, but this varies. For most LLP partners, personal protection is the only option — and it's often the area where coverage is weakest.
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Critical illness pays a one-off tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a specified serious condition. Income protection pays a regular monthly benefit if you're unable to work for any reason — illness, injury, or mental health. They serve different purposes: critical illness provides immediate capital (often used to clear a mortgage or cover treatment costs), while income protection replaces your monthly earnings for as long as you're unable to work.
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At minimum, enough to clear the outstanding mortgage balance. Beyond that, consider whether your family would need ongoing income replacement — which family income benefit provides — or a lump sum to cover other commitments. The right amount depends on your mortgage size, your family's living costs, any existing employer cover, and what other assets or savings you have. We'll model this with you as part of the protection conversation.
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Yes. Income protection is available to self-employed professionals including LLP partners, barristers, and consultants. The insurer will typically assess your income based on your last two to three years of earnings. For self-employed professionals, income protection is arguably more important than for employed professionals — because there's no employer sick pay to fall back on. If you can't work, your income stops immediately.
W H Y W E R A I S E I TWhy We Talk About Protection With Every Client
We raise protection with every client we work with. Not because we have to — but because we've seen what happens when it's not in place, and we think it's part of our job to make sure you've at least considered it.
We're not a protection-only firm. We're mortgage brokers who happen to believe that arranging a £1.5m mortgage without discussing what happens if you can't pay it isn't doing our job properly. We'll review what you already have through your employer, identify where the gaps are, give you clear numbers on what it would cost to fill them, and let you make an informed decision.
If you decide protection isn't for you right now, that's fine. We'll document the conversation and move on. But we'd rather have the conversation and hear no than not raise it at all.