Insurance
for clinical pharma contractors

 

An increasing number of contractors now require their work to be covered by insurance, especially where you operate under your own limited company.
See Professional Indemnity Insurance for more…

Offices, PCs and cars are generally priorities for insurance, but many contractors neglect a more valuable possession - their health. Fortunately, peace of mind can be bought for a sensible price. See critical illness insurance for more…

If you have a partner or dependants, then you should consider some form of life insurance which would pay out a lump sum on your death and leave them free of financial worries such as a mortgage or business loans.
See life insurance for more…

Obviously as a contractor you may be traveling more between clients and home. You may therefore also consider travel insurance. Please check our travel section for recommended websites. We also have a listing for home and car insurance

 

Critical illness insurance

As a contractor you may be especially vulnerable to difficulties being out of work due to illness. Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with any of a range of serious conditions, which include cancer, heart disease, strokes and multiple sclerosis.

Advances in medicine mean that even when diagnosed with a very serious disease, you are likely to survive for some time. A cash lump sum helps ease financial worries while you are undergoing treatment and recuperation.

When buying critical illness insurance you must decide how many conditions you want covered, and how much cover you need. You must also decide how long you want the policy to last and whether you want to include it as part of your life assurance.

The cost of buying cover is likely to be a major consideration. It may appear expensive compared to life assurance but that is because you are two-and-a-half times as likely to suffer a critical illness than you are to die before the age of 65.

Most people opt to cover the cost of their outstanding mortgage loan, plus a bit more. Your policy should last at least as long as your mortgage. The basic number of conditions covered is usually five or six. You can pay more in order to include a range of up to 30. Once diagnosed with a critical illness, you must contact your insurer, which will seek confirmation from your doctor.

You should ask your agency or umbrella company whether they have any critical illness programs in place.

 

Life insurance

Obviously for you and your dependents, no amount of money could possibly replace you. However, consider the financial implications if something were to happen to you. Life insurance covers your life and pays a lump sum on your death or terminal illness. Life insurance benefits can cover your mortgage and any other debts. It also provides a lump sum that can be invested to meet the ongoing needs of your dependents. In the case of pure life insurance, without any endowment insurance component, no payments are due if the insured person survives the term of insurance.

Since most schemes are set up under pension rules, customers get the benefit of tax relief on their premiums, even if they don’t pay tax! Additionally, if customers pay tax at the higher rate of 40%, they can claim extra tax relief back in their tax return, cutting the cost of their life insurance even more. Please see the experts for further details.

Who should I speak to?

A financial adviser is trained to provide advice that can ensure that not only your life insurance is sound but that your that your financial arrangements are adequate (pension etc). They can also help determine what risk management solutions you require and how much you should be insured for.

 

Professional Indemnity Insurance

What is Professional Indemnity Insurance?

Professional Indemnity Insurance is advisable if you are a contractor operating under your own limited company. Just as Doctors, Solicitors and Financial Advisors who give professional advice to customers and clients require to have it, so may you! It protects you in the event that your advice is acted upon and it proves to be wrong (or mis-acted upon).

Ultimately it's insurance against claims for:

Do I require to have Professional Indemnity Insurance?

A number of pharmaceuticals demand that agencies have adequate Professional Indemnity Insurance. As such, the agencies will try and pass this onto contractors or in the very least, freelancers. So just as agencies now ask freelance contractors for VAT registration and company registration details as a matter of course, they will also ask for proof of Professional Indemnity Insurance (for those contracts where the client demands it).

If you operate under an umbrella company then it's very unlikely that you would require purchasing your own cover. They will normally incorporate you under their scheme. But ask at the time of getting a new contract!

 

When should I get it?

If you operate your own limited company then we would advise you to speak to your agent at the time of contract negotiation. In most cases your agency may cover you under their policy.

Where it is required, the tricky thing with indemnity insurance is that you need to be covered when a claim is made, not for when the mistake is made. This can lead to problems if you plan to cancel your coverage when you cease trading or retire, because somebody could still make a claim against you.

 

Resources

We recommend that you consult a good broker. In the very near future we hope to bring you special discounted rate for freelance contractors registered with us. In the meantime we suggest you visit the Money Supermarket website where you can compare a number of life insurance policies together with pricing.

Barclay's Life Insurance www.barclayslifeinsurance.com - Providing simple cover at some of the lowest prices available (from £5 a month), the B-Assured Life Insurance Plan gives customers a choice of cover levels, with tax relief on payment and a quick and simple online application process. Key points:

BUPA International www.bupa-intl.com - Members of BUPA International can move from country to country with confidence, knowing they can rely on the seamless cover of an internationally recognised and respected organisation. As a member of BUPA International you will have access to a network of over 5,000 participating hospitals and clinics worldwide.

American Express International Healtcare Plan www.americanexpresshealthcare.com - This plan can offer contractors the medical cover they require whilst abroad. The policy is available to non-American Express Members and is applicable to anyone living away from their home country and it's not restricted to UK residents living abroad. In addition, if you are a non-UK resident contractor working in the UK, you can also become a member of this healthcare plan. The policy includes:

In an emergency you will only have to make the one phone call from anywhere in the world to one of their Alarm Centres who will promptly set respond to your requirements. They are staffed by multilingual operators 24/7 who can arrange hospital admissions, ambulance transfers and air evacuation where necessary.

Marks & Spencer Life Insurance www.marksandspencer.com - M&S can help loved ones to cope with financial burdens at an extremely affordable price to the consumer with M&S Life Insurance starting from as little as £5 per month and the premium is fixed for the full term of the policy. Cost of cover depends on individual circumstances.

 

Or you could also check out theidol.com website - a leading internet broker specialising in discounted Life insurance. They deal with the major insurers and using their latest technology, you can now get an instant online quotation.