Shepherds Friendly Income Protection Plus

Income Protection Plus is an income protection plan from Shepherds Friendly, a friendly society that has been trading since the nineteenth century. Alongside the cover, the plan builds a cash lump sum that is paid to you in your retirement years, whether you have claimed or not¹.

The plan is arranged around choices you make when you take it out: how much of your income to cover, whether the benefit stays level or reduces over a long claim, and how long you wait before payments start. The society's own site carries today's figures for premiums and cover amounts, because they depend on your age, your health, your job and the options you pick.

This page explains what the plan pays, how each option behaves, who can apply, how the profit share works, and what happens if you cancel early. It does not quote prices, because the provider's own documents hold the current numbers.

What Income Protection Plus pays and for how long

The plan replaces part of your earnings when you cannot work because of illness or injury. The society states that it can pay a monthly income of up to 70% of your pre-tax income¹. That ceiling matters: income protection policies do not replace all of your pre-disability income, and they usually provide a proportion of it, minus state benefits and any income from similar policies⁵. The 70% figure is the top of the range, not a promise, and the amount you are offered depends on your earnings and what you already receive.

Payments continue until you are fit enough to get back to your job or reach the age of 65, whichever comes first². That is a long-term structure rather than a short-term one, and it is the main difference between this kind of plan and accident, sickness and unemployment cover, which typically pays for a fixed period of months. If you want to compare the two approaches, short-term and long-term income protection sets them side by side.

The plan is a friendly society income protection plan, categorised as a long-term product, which additionally may pay a lump sum when the policy ends⁶. Friendly societies are mutual insurers owned by their members rather than shareholders, and how friendly societies work explains what that means for policyholders.

Two features shape what you actually receive. The first is the benefit option, level or reducing, which decides whether the monthly amount stays the same through a long claim. The second is the deferred period, which decides when the money starts. Both are chosen at the outset and both affect the premium.

Level or Reducing Benefit: how each one behaves

You choose one of two benefit structures when you take out the plan, and the choice changes both the cost and the shape of a long claim.

Level Benefit pays the same monthly amount for as long as the claim lasts, up to the age limit. It costs more because the society carries more risk over a long claim. The society gives an example of a member who chose Level Benefit and started claiming £4,000 per month, paid until age 65⁷.

Reducing Benefit is the cheaper option. It pays your full insured Income Benefit for the first two years of a claim, then 50% for the third year and 30% from the fourth year until recovery or the Insurance End Date⁷. The idea is that a long absence usually comes with lower outgoings over time, as a mortgage is paid down or children become independent, but the reduction is real and worth planning for.

The table reflects the society's own description of how Reducing Benefit steps down⁷. Applicants for Reducing Benefit may also be able to accept a pre-existing conditions exclusion, which is not offered on the same terms under Level Benefit⁷.

Which one suits a person depends on what the money has to cover and for how long. A household with a large mortgage and school-age children has different needs from someone nearing the end of a loan. How much of your salary income protection pays works through the replacement ratios in more detail.

Choosing when payments start: the deferred period

The deferred period is the amount of time you have to have been off work before the policy will start paying you benefit, agreed when you took out the policy⁵. It is the single biggest lever on the premium, because it decides how long you have to manage on your own resources first.

Income Protection Plus lets you decide how quickly you want the policy to pay out: after day 1, 7 or 14, or after 1, 3, 6 or 12 months². A short deferred period costs more; a long one costs less but assumes you have savings, sick pay or a partner's income to bridge the gap. Most policies include a waiting period, known as a deferral period, which can range from a few weeks to several months after you stop working⁸.

Once the deferred period ends, the first payment is made one month after the end of the deferred period³. So a plan with a three-month deferred period does not put money in your account at the three-month mark; the first payment follows a month later. That timing is standard across the market, and Legal & General describes the same approach, saying it aims to send the first payment one month after the end of the deferred period⁹.

The practical question is how long you could last without a salary. What is a deferred period on income protection? covers how to match the waiting time to your sick pay and savings, and do you need income protection if you have sick pay or savings? looks at whether cover is needed at all in that situation.

The profit share: a cash lump sum built over the policy

Income Protection Plus includes a profit share feature that aims to build a cash lump sum over the life of your policy for payment to you in your retirement years, whether you claim or not¹. The lump sum is separate from the monthly income benefit: it accumulates while the policy runs, and it is paid at the end even if you never made a claim.

The same feature appears in the society's plans for particular professions, described as a profit share feature that aims to build a cash lump sum over the life of the policy for payment in the retirement years⁷. The society's key document for a comparable friendly society plan describes it as a long-term product which additionally may pay a lump sum when the policy ends⁶.

Because the lump sum depends on bonuses being added over time, its size is not fixed in advance. The society's documents for a comparable plan describe applying to withdraw part of the accumulated cash sum after bonuses have been awarded, within three months of certain events, with anything else at the insurer's discretion⁶. The provider's own site carries the current figures and the terms that apply to your policy.

One point to keep in view: a lump sum arriving later can affect means-tested benefits, now or in the future, because getting a lump sum or taking extra cash to supplement your income may reduce your entitlement¹⁰. If you receive means-tested support, it is worth checking how a future payout would be treated. Does income protection affect my benefits? covers the interaction.

Support included with membership: virtual GP, counselling and rehabilitation

Membership of the plan comes with services beyond the income benefit. As a member you get current free access to an online GP 24/7 service for you and your family¹. The society also includes a Wellbeing Counselling Service to support members and their dependents⁷.

These added benefits are common across protection policies, which often include virtual GP services, vocational rehabilitation, mental health support and employee assistance programmes¹¹. They are worth knowing about because they can be used before a claim, not only during one, and they extend to family members rather than the policyholder alone.

The GP service is a remote consultation rather than a replacement for NHS care, and the counselling service is a support line rather than a course of treatment. Extra services with protection policies explains how these add-ons typically work and what they do and do not cover.

If you are ill, vulnerable, or managing a policy for someone else, extra support if you are ill or vulnerable sets out where else help is available.

Who can apply and how medical underwriting works

The plan is aimed at people who want to replace income lost through injury or illness. The society's documents describe the target market as current or prospective retail customers over 18 and under 60, living in the UK, whose primary objective is to replace income lost through injury or illness⁶. A separate version of the same description refers to people under 60 who live in the UK and whose primary objective is to replace their income if they are unable to work through injury or illness⁶. The two wordings differ slightly on the lower age boundary, so if you are close to either end of the range, confirm your eligibility with the society before applying.

Underwriting is done by medical interview in the first instance. The society states that it would only ask you to undergo a medical examination by your own GP if it cannot make a decision based on your medical interview⁷. Reducing Benefit applicants may be able to accept a pre-existing conditions exclusion instead of being declined⁷.

Answering the medical questions accurately is essential. If you do not disclose a condition, a claim can be refused later, and what happens if you do not disclose a medical condition explains how that works. Applying for cover: medical questions and underwriting covers the process in general, and getting cover with a pre-existing medical condition is the place to start if you have an existing diagnosis.

The plan is also available in versions aimed at particular professions, including doctors and optometrists². Income protection for doctors and NHS staff looks at how cover is arranged for those groups.

How premiums and charges work

You pay a monthly premium, and if you become too ill or injured to work, the policy can replace part of your income¹. The society states there are no fees for paying your premiums by direct debit, and it does not require you to enter into any form of credit agreement to pay monthly⁷. A direct debit form is available to download from the society's document library⁶.

Premiums are not the same as charges in the way a fund management fee is. With income protection, the premium is the price of the cover, and it reflects your age, health, occupation, the amount of benefit, the benefit option and the deferred period. The society's own site carries today's figures, because they are calculated for each applicant.

Two structures exist across the market, and it is worth knowing which one you are being offered. Guaranteed premiums are fixed for the whole term; reviewable premiums cost less initially but the insurer reviews them on a regular basis and may change them¹². A reviewable structure can look cheaper at the start and cost more later, so the question to ask is which basis applies to your plan.

The society's documents set out product terms separately for members who joined before 16 February 2016, members who joined on or after that date, and Associate members⁶. If you are comparing what you were sold with what applies now, that split is the reason the wording differs.

Cancelling early: what you can lose from the cash sum

You can cancel the policy before the end of the initial agreed term without penalty, but the cash sum will be less than if the plan is maintained for its full term⁶. There is no exit charge; the loss is in the accumulated lump sum, which is smaller because fewer bonuses have been added.

That pattern is common to policies with an investment element. Where a single-premium policy is cancelled early, the consumer usually receives a refund, but the refund is usually much less than pro rata, especially if the policy was cancelled early and after the initial cooling-off period¹³. The same principle applies here: the earlier you stop, the less the cash sum is worth.

If you stop the income cover but want to keep the savings element, the society states that as an Associate Member you can retain your Profit Share Account but will not be entitled to claim any Income Benefit⁷. So the lump sum can survive the end of the cover, in a reduced form, but the monthly income protection does not.

How to apply

Applications are made through the society. You choose your cover options through its online quote tool and apply using the online application form; enquiries can also be made by email or by phone⁷. The society's site carries the current contact details and the quote tool.

Before applying, it helps to have three things ready: your income figures, so the benefit amount can be set within the 70% ceiling¹; a view on how long you could manage without a salary, which sets the deferred period²; and your medical history, because the underwriting starts with a medical interview⁷.

If you would rather take advice than apply directly, buying protection insurance: advisers, brokers and going direct explains the difference between the two routes. How income protection insurance works is the general starting point if you are new to this type of cover.

Protection if things go wrong

Shepherds Friendly is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, with firm reference number 109997, and its status effective date is 1 December 2001⁴. It also appears on the Bank of England's list of insurers incorporated in the UK authorised to carry out contracts of insurance¹⁴. You can check a firm's status yourself on the FCA Register.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers a range of financial products if a UK-authorised financial firm fails, including deposits, insurance, investments, pensions, mortgage advice and certain other regulated services¹⁵. The scheme cannot protect you if an e-money firm or payment services firm fails, which is a different kind of business¹⁶. If you are unsure whether a particular product is covered, the scheme's own guidance suggests asking whether the product is covered, how much of your money is protected, and what would happen to your money if the provider's business failed¹⁷.

If you have a complaint, talk to Shepherds Friendly first, because the Financial Ombudsman Service expects the provider to have the chance to put things right¹⁸. If you are not satisfied with the final response, the ombudsman can look at it, and its service is free to consumers. The ombudsman publishes specific guidance on income protection insurance complaints⁵, and it also handles complaints about critical illness cover¹⁸. In the first quarter of 2026/27 it opened 931 complaints about personal pensions and 593 about pet insurance, which gives a sense of the volume of cases it deals with across financial products¹⁹.

For workplace pension complaints there is a separate route: you can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how your workplace pension is managed²⁰. Before applying to the Pensions Ombudsman you must first make a formal complaint directly with the relevant party, such as the trustees or manager of your pension scheme, the administrator or an employer²¹. That is a different scheme from this plan, but the same principle applies: raise it with the provider first.

If you are struggling with debt while paying premiums, free and impartial help is available. Debt: a complete guide to help, solutions and your rights sets out the options, and benefits in the UK covers what state support may be available if you cannot work.