Share
Income Protection occupations refreshed for modern working lives
Our updated occupation classes make it easier to put the right protection in place for more of your clients.
Work has changed – and so have your clients’ jobs. With more hybrid, flexible and self-employed roles than ever before, many people now work in occupations that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. To reflect this, we’ve reviewed our approach to occupational underwriting, resulting in improved terms for 707 occupations - helping you recommend cover that supports your clients’ long‑term financial resilience.
This review delivers:
- Lower pricing across 162 occupations, giving better value where demand is strong.
- New opportunities for cover for 545 occupations, with terms now available for roles we previously couldn’t cover.
- Greater flexibility at quote stage, even when your clients’ occupation isn’t confirmed – making it easier to generate an Income Protection quote.
A small number of occupations will move to a higher class, and for some roles Income Protection will no longer be available.
We’re also enhancing our approach to Total Permanent Disability (TPD), moving 67 occupations from the working‑tasks definition to an own‑occupation definition - making it easier for us to pay valid claims.
What the research tells us about the need for protection
Latest insights from CIExpert1 and the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI)2 show many consumers still don’t understand income protection or when it pays. Our research also found that only 47% of mortgage‑holders feel they could cope financially for more than three months if they were unable to work3. That’s why we’re widening access to income protection, helping you support more clients across today’s workforce.
Cover built for modern working lives
We can now consider occupations we previously would have automatically declined, including firefighters and prison officers. This helps you support more clients in essential roles.
We’ve improved the pricing for occupations once seen as higher risk but now involving more skilled or supervisory work, such as mechanics and electricians.
And we can now offer cover to more technical and creative professions including writers and manicurists, helping ensure our Income Protection reflects how people work today.
So, your clients can feel confident that if illness or injury stops them from working, they’ll have the support they need to focus on recovery without the added worry of financial pressure.
Why choose Royal London?
With our Income Protection, you can cover up to 65% of the first £60,000 of your clients’ earnings, and 50% of income above that, up to £250,000. Fracture cover, hospitalisation support and back-to-work payments are also included at no extra cost. Self-employed clients can include ongoing fixed business expenses, such as rent or finance agreements. And we offer specially tailored Income Protection for NHS medical professionals.
All our adviser protection plans include Helping Hand, giving your clients tailored practical and emotional support whenever they need it – at no extra cost. It’s support they can rely on at every stage of life.
Helping Hand is a package of support services and each service is provided by third parties that aren’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority. These services aren’t part of our terms and conditions and don’t form part of your insurance contract with us, so can be amended or withdrawn at any time. This means that you or your family’s access to these services could be amended or withdrawn by us in the future.
Support to strengthen your protection conversations
We have a range of tools to help with your protection conversations, from our pre-sale underwriting tool that gives indicative decisions in seconds, to our value of menu tool and lifestyle calculator.
Our specialist protection team are also here to help you get the right cover for clients with more sophisticated financial needs.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can support you, speak to your usual Royal London contact or get in touch for a call back from one of our team.
1. CIExpert – Critical thinking report 2026
2. AMI Viewpoint research 2025
3. Royal London/Opinium research with 5,000 UK adults, weighted to be nationally representative, carried out between December 2025 and January 2026