How good is your package?

Earlier this year the bottom fell out of my bubble I call life.  Mr Boo called me at lunchtime on Monday 26th March to say that the company he works for had gone into administration and with immediate effect his store was to close.

I'm sure my heart stopped beating whilst the enormous repercussions of that conversation sank in.  We are a family who live payday to payday, with no savings. Thoughts of our home being reprocessed, unable to feed our children and an overwhelming feeling that we were not better prepared for that 'rainy day'.

We were fortunate in some respects, our mortgage company agreed to give us a three month payment holiday, Mr Boo received some redundancy money and it was paid within weeks allowing us to put food on the table. Claiming of benefits, something very new to us, was as expected not straightforward and took longer to come through than expected.

Luckily with a month or two Mr Boo found a new position and we were roughly back on an even keel. However, going through a redundancy has really opened our eyes to the lack of 'rainy day' plans we have in place. 

Unum realise that everyone needs a back up plan and challenge everyone to take a look at their employment benefits to see if income protection insurance could make a different if the worst did happen.

I am fortunate in some respects that I have worked for the same provider since I was 18 years old.  This enables me to have good access to a range of benefits including sick pay of 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay.  Redundancy pay and redeployment if the need arose. Alongside a pension scheme that would also cover me if I need to retire early due to ill-health.

Whilst having income protection insurance wouldn't have stopped Mr Boo being made redundant it, knowing that if either one of us had to stop work due to illness or accident we would still be able to pay our bills is a huge weight off our shoulders.  So whilst my benefits package is reasonable we need to look into Mr Boo's benefits package with his new employers.

What income protection does your employer offer you?
Maybe it's your 'The Right Time to Talk About a Back up Plan'

Boo xxx

Disclosure Policy: I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network, a group of parent bloggers picked by Mumsnet to review products, services, events and brands. I have been asked by Mumsnet and Unum to blog about income protection. I have received a voucher for this blog post but I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity