The new public sector sick pay arrangements introduced in 2014 has meant a drop in public sector paid sick leave.

However, help is at hand.

The IMO Income Protection Group Scheme now dovetails with the new arrangements. This means that for public sector employees, the IMO income protection group scheme will commence payment from the day you no longer receive full rate sick pay from your employer.

This applies to members employed by the HSE as well as GPs with any GMS income. GPs with GMS income will receive payment on the same terms as for public sector employees.

For members with private income, 50% benefit will be paid after a 13-week continuous deferred period and the full benefit will be paid after 26 weeks’ continuous deferred period.

Income protection will provide you with an alternative regular income if you suffer an illness or injury that prevents you from working.

Features specifically designed with the medical profession in mind:

* Cover while abroad (e.g. EU countries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia). This is of particular interest to those planning to gain work experience abroad for a period of time.

* May include overtime up to 50% of basic pay when calculating maximum benefit

* You can now alter your cover without further medical underwriting following certain income increasing events such as becoming a GP/registrar or consultant.

We pay

To date the IMO group schemes have paid out a total of €27m in benefits helping IMO members and their families. An overall of 98% of income protection claims have been accepted. This is much higher than the industry norm for individual income protection.

Cover is more affordable than you think – see examples below

* €2,500pm income cover for a 30-year old will cost €22pm

* €5,000pm income cover for a 38-year old will cost €45pm

* €5,000pm income cover for a 50-year old will cost €87pm

(Above figures are net of 40% tax relief and subject to medical underwriting acceptance at standard rates of premium)

For further information on our income protection group scheme please click here.

We also offer good deals on life and GMS pension protection cover. For further details, please see our Group Scheme brochure which can be assessed here.

For those 1,600 members who are already covered under our group schemes, we strongly recommend that you review your existing policies with us to ensure that you are still adequately covered. As you know all our reviews are free of charge.  

Please contact us on 01/6618299 or email imofs@imo.ie for a quote.

All the staff at IMO FS look forward to hearing from you.