Having an accident, illness or injury is not something we normally think about. However, on top of the obvious physical and mental effects of being unwell, not being able to work could put you and your family under serious financial strain.

If you can’t work, you are likely to find that your income reduces or stops altogether, whether from your own practice, the NHS or sick pay from your employer. Your bills and other financial commitments, on the other hand, won’t. This is where income protection comes in, by helping to replace the income you lose by not being able to work.

Whether you are young or old, single or with a family, a practice owner, associate, in hospital service, the forces or community dentistry - income protection can give you the financial support you and your family need, so that you can concentrate on your recovery, however long that may be.

Our plans are designed by experts working closely with dental professionals, just like you. So you can be sure that whatever stage your career is at, we have a plan to suit your lifestyle and needs. Our business is based on the simple principle that our members should never have to compromise on levels of service or the quality of their cover.

Being owned and run by dental professionals, we do not make profits for anyone else – our profits are only ever used to improve the products, services and benefits we provide our members.

Whether your needs are simple or complex, we are confident that you will find a plan that is right for you, whatever your budget.

Maximum monthly cover Maximum proportion of your qualifying income that can be paid as benefits What your illness or injury has to stop you doing during a claim Maximum period we will pay your claim Waiting periods available
£7,800 70% Your own occupation Until you are 65 54 waiting periods, starting from no waiting period to 52 weeks as well as 104 weeks

Key features More details

Key features More detail

Maximum monthly cover Maximum proportion of your qualifying income that can be paid as benefits What your illness or injury has to stop you doing during a claim Maximum period we will pay your claim Waiting periods available
£6,500 70% Your own occupation Until you are 65 12 waiting periods, including no waiting period to 1, 4, 8, 12, 13, 26, 52, 104, 156, 208 and 260 weeks

Key features More details

Key features More detail

Maximum monthly cover Maximum proportion of your qualifying income that can be paid as benefits What your illness or injury has to stop you doing during a claim Maximum period we will pay your claim Waiting periods available
£6,500 70% Your own occupation Up to 5 years for either any one claim or all your claims 6 waiting periods, including 4, 8, 12, 13, 26, and 52 weeks

Key features More details

Key features More detail

Compare

Our plans are designed to give you control, so you can customise a plan that suits your unique needs. To find out more about what it costs to protect your lifestyle, please click here.

You can apply for our plans by clicking here. Our online application process is fast and convenient. Once we receive your application, we will call you for a health and lifestyle interview, to collect the information we need to decide on the most suitable terms and conditions for your plan.

You can also apply for our plans through your independent financial adviser or by completing a paper application. You can obtain an application pack by contacting our member services team.

We are not allowed to give you financial advice, which means we can’t recommend whether or not our plans are right for you. If you don’t have a financial adviser or would prefer to speak to us, we are happy to answer any questions you may have to help you make your own decision.

These case studies are for illustration purposes only and not based on real individuals. They are not designed to provide financial advice, nor are they intended to make any recommendations regarding the suitability of our plans for a particular individual.

Nilesh qualified eight years ago. After completing his foundation training, he has continued working in general practice.  Nilesh and his young family recently moved to Hampshire where he started work in a town centre multi-disciplinary practice.

With a young family Nilesh was concerned about the effect of a long term illness on the household finances and chose Dentists’ Provident for his income protection needs. He opted for the Select income protection plan as he wanted flexible and high quality cover with the peace of mind of having guaranteed premium rates.

Nilesh earns £100,000 a year and has gone for the maximum cover based on his income of £4,500 a month. To help keep the cost of cover down, he chose a waiting period of 1 week, which means he would only be able to claim benefits after he was ill or injured for more than a week.

Since Nilesh was worried about a long term illness, he chose his plan to end when he was 65 years old and for his cover to be linked to inflation.

Nilesh pays a monthly premium of £111.54 for his cover.

Rachel graduated two years ago and started her foundation training in Wales. She is now an associate in a mixed practice in Bristol. Rachel joined Dentists’ Provident in her final year at university by taking out the Foundation protection plan. Rachel is now buying a house and has decided to buy additional income protection cover to make sure her mortgage payments and day to day expenses are covered if she could not work because of an illness or injury.

Rachel earns £60,000 a year but has decided to only take £2,600 of cover a month, which roughly covers the first £50,000 of her annual income - as she already has a cover of £1,750 from her Foundation protection plan, she has decided to take out monthly cover of £850 under the Select income protection plan.

Not having a huge disposable income, Rachel decided not to take any optional features. She also chose reviewable premiums, where the starting cost is lower than guaranteed premiums. This allowed Rachel to have the extra cover start from her first day of illness or injury and stay within her budget.

Rachel pays £48.81 in total for the cover under her two plans.

Greg is a 42 year old dentist and keen mountain biker. On his principal’s recommendation he took out his income protection plan with Dentists’ Provident some years ago, when he worked as one of five associates in private practice.

He is now a practice owner of a small mixed practice in the Midlands, and pleased he chose the Income security plan because of the bonuses he receives every year as part of his plan.

Even though he receives some income from the practice, it does not cover all his personal financial commitments. He was paid £10,000 in benefits last summer, when he broke his collarbone after he fell off his bike and was off work for a few months. This allowed him to recover from his injury, without worrying about the household finances.

Aisha is a 46 year old consultant maxillofacial surgeon. As well as working in a London hospital, she has a private clinic and is also a part time university lecturer. Aisha has a policy with another insurer which covers her hospital earnings and a plan with Dentists’ Provident to cover her income from the university and private clinic.

She has two young children and is usually busy juggling her personal and professional commitments. But the last few years have been different; last year she went back to work after taking an entire summer off due to problems with her back and neck, which meant she was in too much pain to work. As she had made sure her income protection cover was up to date, she still received an income to fund her family's lifestyle.

We are owned by our members. This means that your interest always come first and never more so than when you need to make a claim. Our claims process is simple and easy. Once you have completed your claim form, simply ask your doctor to complete the confidential medical certificate at the back and then return your fully completed claim form to us along with the evidence of your income. If you need help our claims team is only a phone call away.

As a member, in addition to your cover, we support you with access to information and guidance from relevant, reputable third parties to help in your practising and personal life. Whether it’s advice on posture and back care, offers for ergonomic equipment, complimentary preventive care, exercise classes and techniques or reduced prices for lectures, we want to support your health and wellbeing throughout your membership.

We regularly produce publications, with valuable third party offers, information, news and articles. For more information about our exclusive member benefits, please see our member benefits page.

We want you to be happy with your plan and our service, but sometimes we may not live up to the standards we set ourselves. If that happens, please let us know and we will work hard to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. If you are still not satisfied with how we have dealt with things, then you can go through our formal complaints process.

If you have a complaint, we will acknowledge it in writing within five working days of receiving it. We aim to resolve all complaints within four weeks, however sometimes this can take longer. If this happens, we will write to you to explain the reason for the delay and provide an indication of when you can expect our decision, along with details of the options available to you.

If you are not satisfied with our final response, you can choose to either refer the matter to our panel of independent arbitrators or the Financial Ombudsman Service

The contact details for the Financial Ombudsman Service are:

Financial Ombudsman Service

Exchange Tower

London

E14 9SR

Phone: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9 123

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Web: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Complaining to the Ombudsman will not affect your legal rights. For further information about your legal rights, please contact your solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.

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Visit us on stand C61 at the BDIA Dental Showcase, 22-23 March 2024 at ExCel London

Visit us on stand C61 at the BDIA Dental Showcase, 22-23 March 2024 at ExCel London

Our next exhibition is the BDIA Dental Showcase in March, where we look forward to meeting anyone interested in becoming a member or members wanting to discuss their plans.