As the name suggests, you will be covered of you cannot work for a period through accident, sickness or unemployment, which can be useful if you are made redundant. But if you are aware that you may be facing redundancy, then it is too late to take out this product as you would not be able to get cover, and remember, lying on an insurance document to get cover that would not be offered to you otherwise is fraud.

There is usually a period of time before the policy will start to pay, so you should have some money put by for this eventuality, and they will usually only cover payments for a year or so, it is not designed as a product to be used long term, simply to get you through a tricky patch.

These policies are often sold alongside loans or mortgages, and if the salesman can make a lot of money from them, so you will probably find that you will get a better deal by shopping around independently for a policy. But remember that you must compare like-with-like, something that is not always easy.