Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance (ASU Insurance)
Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance (ASU Insurance)
Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance
Life can be unpredictable, and protecting yourself and your family from unforeseen events is essential. Accident, Sickness, and Unemployment Insurance (ASU Insurance) provides financial peace of mind by offering monthly income support when you're unable to work due to illness, injury, or redundancy.
At Bradgate Financial Solutions, our friendly team will discuss your needs and guide you in choosing the best cover plan tailored for you and your family. Call us today for a free consultation and personalised advice.
Key Features of ASU Insurance
Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance offers versatile and tailored protection for a wide range of professions and personal circumstances. With flexible benefits, straightforward eligibility requirements, and a simplified application process, ASU Insurance ensures you and your family are covered when it matters most. Our team is here to guide you every step of the way, providing peace of mind and financial security.
- Comprehensive Cover ASU Insurance caters to a variety of professions, whether you're in an active, hands-on role or work in an office environment.
- Eligibility Generally, you need to have been with your current employer for at least six months to qualify for coverage. While policies can be harder to secure if you're over 65, we can explore the available options during your consultation.
- Flexible Benefits Some policies offer additional lump-sum payouts to your dependents if the worst happens, providing extra peace of mind for your family.
- Simplified Applications Many policies don't require proof of income, making it easier than ever to apply. Our experienced ASU team will walk you through the requirements step by step.
How Does ASU Insurance Work?
ASU Insurance provides you with a monthly income to help cover essential expenses when you're unable to work. If you're diagnosed with a serious illness or experience an accident that prevents you from working for an extended period, this type of cover ensures financial stability. Most policies offer support for up to 12 months from the date of illness or injury, giving you time to recover without the added pressure of lost income.
Additionally, ASU Insurance can protect against unemployment by providing income support if you lose your job through no fault of your own.
Waiting Periods, and Whether Payment Backdates
Every ASU policy has a period you must be off work before anything is paid. The critical question is what happens to those weeks once the claim is accepted, and policies split into two kinds that are frequently sold at similar prices.
Retrospective, sometimes called back-to-day-one. Once you have been out of work for the waiting period, the policy pays from the first day of the claim. A 30-day retrospective policy therefore pays a full month at the end of that month.
Non-retrospective. Payment begins only after the waiting period ends, and those first weeks are never paid at all.
Over a short claim the difference is most of the money. On a policy with a 60-day non-retrospective wait, a claim lasting ten weeks pays two weeks; a retrospective equivalent pays ten.
Waiting periods commonly range from 30 to 90 days, and a longer one reduces the premium. Choosing it is a judgement about how long your savings and any employer sick pay would genuinely last — not simply about price.
Check also whether benefit is paid monthly in arrears, and how quickly the first payment actually reaches you after acceptance.
The Exclusion Period at the Start
Cover does not begin in full on day one, and this is where ASU claims are most often refused.
Most policies impose an initial exclusion period — typically the first 60, 90 or 120 days — during which the unemployment element will not pay. It exists to prevent people insuring a redundancy they already know is coming.
Crucially, the test is usually not whether you were made redundant during that window, but whether you had knowledge or notice of it. If redundancies were announced, consultation had begun, or you were otherwise aware your role was at risk before the policy started, a claim can be declined even if the notice arrives much later.
Pre-existing medical conditions are treated similarly on the accident and sickness element. Many policies exclude any condition you had received advice, treatment or medication for in a defined period before cover started — often the preceding twelve or twenty-four months. Some exclude it permanently; others do so only for a limited period after inception.
Read these two clauses before anything else in the document. They determine whether the policy covers the situation you are most likely to be worried about.
How It Sits Alongside State Support
ASU is designed to sit on top of state support, not to replace it, and understanding the interaction prevents disappointment on both sides.
Benefit is normally paid free of income tax, because premiums are paid from taxed income. It is generally paid to you rather than directly to a lender, so you decide what it covers.
However, ASU payments can affect means-tested benefits. Universal Credit and similar support take account of income and, in some circumstances, capital — so an insurance payment may reduce what the state provides. Contribution-based benefits are assessed differently. The net gain from a claim is therefore sometimes less than the headline monthly figure suggests.
Insurers also cap benefit as a proportion of your normal earnings, commonly around 65%, and against the specific outgoings the policy was bought to cover. Insuring more than that cap does not increase what is paid — it simply raises the premium for cover that cannot be claimed.
Payment periods are limited too. Twelve months per claim is the usual maximum, and a policy may cap total claims across its life. ASU is short-term cover for a temporary interruption. Where the concern is a long illness ending a career, income protection is the product that addresses it.
Buying the Elements Separately
ASU is sold as three covers in one, but they can normally be bought individually, and for many people that is the better purchase.
Accident and sickness only
suits the self-employed, company directors and contractors, who cannot usually claim on the unemployment element in any meaningful sense and should not pay for it.
Unemployment only
suits an employee with generous occupational sick pay but no redundancy protection.
All three
suits an employee with limited sick pay and a job in a sector where redundancy is a genuine risk.
The unemployment element also carries the tightest eligibility rules. Fixed-term contracts, seasonal work, probation periods, voluntary redundancy and resignation are commonly excluded, and a minimum period of continuous employment — often six months — is normally required before cover applies.
Establish which elements you can actually claim on before buying all three. Paying for cover your working arrangements exclude you from is the most common waste in this market.
If you need a substantial loan amount and have equity in your property, a secured loan may be the best option.
At Bradgate FS we aim to make choosing and applying for a mortgage, protection, loan or insurance as stress-free as possible.
Taking out Accident, Sickness & Unemployment Insurance provides a critical safety net, ensuring you and your loved ones are financially secure during times of uncertainty. With our experienced advisors guiding you through every step, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that you're covered for the unexpected.
Contact us today to learn more and get a tailored ASU Insurance quote.
Common questions
What if I lose my job?
ASU Insurance covers you for unemployment as long as it wasn't your fault, ensuring financial support during challenging times.
Do I need a perfect credit score to qualify?
Yes, ASU Insurance is designed to protect workers across all industries, whether your job is active or office-based.
Is it easy to apply?
Yes, the application process is straightforward. Our team will go through your requirements, ensuring you select the right policy for your situation.
Related
Important information
This is a protection policy with no cash-in value at any time. Cover is subject to underwriting and to the terms and exclusions of the individual policy. If you stop paying premiums, cover will end.
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