Firefighters & Life Insurance

Working as a firefighter you are naturally in situations that are more risky than a lot of other occupations.  Tackling fires, working at heights, water rescues are just a few examples of things that you do, that are not as safe as some other professions.

The good news is that life insurance for firefighters can generally be accepted at standard terms with most insurance providers.

Some key questions that we will ask you are:

• How often do you work at heights over 40 feet?
• How much of your working week is manual duties, admin or supervisory tasks?
• Are you required to work outside of the UK at any time?

The working at heights question isn’t always the easiest as you are in a job that is reactive to different situations, but we can often take an average rather than set it stone answers. Insurers are conscious that whilst you work in some high risk situations, this isn’t all day every day and you have a lot of safety procedures in place.

As a firefighter your life insurance application should be quite straightforward. Most life insurance applications will ask you about your personal and immediate family medical disclosures, and this can sometimes influence the life insurance terms that you are offered. 

Our advisers are here to find you the best terms for life insurance, get in touch for your no obligation quotation today.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

Critical illness cover for firefighters will also typically be accepted at standard terms with most insurers. Insurance providers do not see that being a firefighter will typically increase the risk of you being diagnosed with a critical illness that they offer cover for. There are some conditions that you may be at a higher risk of experiencing, but overall most insurers are not concerned about your job for this policy type.

With some critical illness policies they automatically include or you can add on a claimable condition known as Total Permanent Disability (TPD). The total and permanent disability option is unlikely to be available to firefighters, and this may show as an exclusion on your policy. This is a relatively small part of the policy, just one claimable condition out of usually more than 50, and it’s very difficult to claim on so please do not be concerned if you are not able to have this.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

Firefighters income protection policies are available at standard terms with certain insurance providers. When you apply for income protection you will need to be selective over which insurer you use, as for this type of policy your occupation is seen as high risk. The reason for this is that you must be in good physical health to be allowed to work, so there are many situations where even with a relatively small injury or illness, you will not be able to do your job. This means there is a greater chance of you making a claim on the policy.

It is important that you apply for an own occupation definition for the policy, which will mean that any claims that you make are assessed upon your ability to work as a firefighter. Other definitions available are suited occupation or any occupation definition, resulting in any claim that you place being assessed on your ability to perform any like job or any job at all. These latter two definitions still provide valuable cover, but are more difficult to claim on than an own occupation policy.

Our financial advisers can ensure that your application is placed with the correct insurer to enhance your chances of being offered an own occupation policy.

Income protection for firefighters will be setup with a deferment period of 1 day, 1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 52 weeks. The deferment period sets the amount of time that you must wait to receive your policy payout, from the time that you are no longer able to work. Factors such as any employment benefits you receive, savings and budget that you have should be used to inform your decision as to which deferment period suits you.

Our financial advisers regularly help clients to determine which deferment period best suits their individual circumstances and we are happy to discuss the benefits of different options with you.

Are you going on holiday? We work alongside a specialist travel insurance broker who can help you choose the right insurance. To find out more, please visit our travel page here.