Reducing NHS Sessions: Review Your Income Protection

Reducing NHS sessions to make room for private work is not just a diary decision. It changes the balance of income supporting your household, so your protection deserves a review before the new pattern begins.

The starting point is simple: NHS contractual sick pay and private earnings are separate. Keeping an NHS role does not mean its benefits replace the private income you could lose if illness or injury stops you practising.

Confirm your NHS sick pay after the change

Ask medical staffing or payroll to confirm in writing what you would be paid under your revised contract during sickness absence. Request the amount, duration and any conditions, rather than relying on a colleague’s entitlement.

For example, the England 2003 consultant terms link sick pay allowances to qualifying service and take account of relevant previous sickness absence. That is one contractual framework, not a universal entitlement for every NHS clinician. [1]

A reduction in sessions may change the pay on which your support is based. Confirm how your basic pay, additional duties and any supplements would be treated. Put the effective date of the contract change alongside the date of your protection review.

Separate private earnings from NHS support

List each source of private income and how it reaches you: employment pay, fees from your own work, or salary and dividends from a company. Then establish what would continue if you could not work. Check any private employer’s sick pay separately.

Private fees linked to consultations or procedures may reduce or stop when you cannot practise. Broadbench’s consultant guidance highlights this distinction from NHS employment support. [3]

Build your household budget using money actually available after costs and deductions, not gross private billings. Separate essential spending from planned practice expenditure. This shows whether a shortfall could arise while NHS sick pay is still being paid, rather than only when it ends.

Check what personal income protection would cover

Income protection can provide regular payments, replacing part of your income when illness or injury prevents you from working, subject to the policy’s definition of incapacity. A deferred period is the agreed wait before benefit becomes payable. Definitions, exclusions and payment duration vary. [4]

Give your Broadbench adviser the revised NHS and private duties, hours and earnings. Ask how the insurer assesses mixed income, what evidence it needs and whether continuing sick pay or another policy affects the benefit. Do not assume projected private growth can immediately support a higher insured amount.

Own occupation cover assesses inability to do your own occupation. Ask how that occupation is defined if your work combines procedures, consultations and other duties. [4] Also ask how the policy would respond if you could do some duties but not others.

Consider company cover without assuming eligibility

If your private work operates through a company that employs you, executive income protection may be an option to compare with personal cover. The policy is owned and funded by the employer, with benefits paid to the business to fund the insured employee’s sick pay. [5]

Ask which remuneration can be included and what the business must pay onwards. Do not assume personal cover ignores dividends: the same insurer’s comparison allows earnings and dividends for personal cover too, subject to its terms. [5] Company ownership alone does not settle which route suits you.

Prepare a focused review pack

Bring the documents that explain the change, rather than simply asking for more cover:

Your revised NHS contract or job plan and written sick pay confirmation.
Recent NHS and private payslips, accounts and tax records, with company salary and dividend evidence where relevant.
Existing policy schedules and wording, including employer-provided cover.
A household spending budget and details of accessible savings, kept separate from business reserves.
A description of your clinical duties before and after the change.

For consultants, BMA guidance also requires disclosure of private commitments to the NHS employer. It advises checking the contract and sickness absence policy before undertaking secondary employment during sick leave. [2] Do not treat employer permission and insurance claim eligibility as interchangeable.

Arrange the review before reducing sessions

Speak to Broadbench about personal income protection and, where relevant, executive income protection. Ask for a review of the income you could lose under your proposed working pattern.

Do not cancel existing cover before understanding any replacement terms. New cover may cost more or exclude existing medical conditions. [4]

This article provides general information, not a personal recommendation. Eligibility, underwriting, exclusions, benefit limits and other policy terms apply. Tax treatment depends on circumstances and can change.