Two key ways to reduce the price of income protection premiums is by choosing a longer waiting period and opting for short-term cover instead of full-term (or long-term).
All income protection policies come with a waiting period, which is how long you wait between becoming too ill work and starting to receive your monthly income protection benefit. You can typically choose 1, 4, 8, 13, 26, or 52 weeks. The longer your waiting period, the cheaper your monthly premiums.
Your cover can also be short-term or full-term. The difference between the two is in the maximum time they’d pay out per claim. A full-term policy pays out for as long as you need, whereas a short-term policy has a maximum payment cap – usually of 1, 2 or 5 years. Short-term cover is cheaper than full-term cover.