If you couldn't pay the mortgage, there's more to draw on than the policy on the table

If you couldn't work because of illness, the first place to look isn't an insurance policy, it's your pay packet. Most people who fall sick have some income already coming in before any payment protection cover would be needed.

Employer sick pay

Many employers pay more than the legal minimum when staff are off sick, often full pay for a set number of weeks followed by a lower rate or nothing at all. The terms are set by your employer, not by law, so they vary from one job to the next. Your contract or staff handbook will say how long it lasts and how much it pays.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum an employer must pay to an eligible employee who is off sick. It's a fixed weekly amount, paid for a limited number of weeks, and only to employees who meet the qualifying conditions on earnings and length of absence. The current rate, the qualifying rules and how long it runs for are set out on GOV.UK, and it's worth checking there directly since the figures are reviewed and can change.

Not everyone qualifies. Self-employed people, for example, aren't covered by SSP at all, which is one of the gaps payment protection cover is sometimes sold to fill.

Before you decide on payment protection

• Ask your employer or HR team how many weeks of full or part pay you'd get if you were off sick.
• Check GOV.UK for the current weekly rate and qualifying conditions for Statutory Sick Pay.
• Work out how many weeks you'd be covered by sick pay before any gap in your income would begin.
• Compare that gap against what a payment protection policy would actually pay, and for how long.

Income protection pays you a regular income if illness or injury stops you working. It replaces part of your earnings. The amount it pays does not depend on how much you still owe on your home.

What triggers a claim

Mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) pays out if you are off work through sickness, injury or redundancy, and the money is intended to cover your mortgage. Income protection responds to illness or injury only; most policies do not cover redundancy at all. The payment goes to you directly, to use as you need it.

How long each one pays

MPPI pays for a limited period on each claim, often with a cap measured in months. Income protection can be written to run for as long as you are unable to work, up to retirement age, depending on the policy.

Why the regulator treats them separately

The FCA treats MPPI and income protection as distinct products, each with its own rules on how it is sold and what has to be disclosed before you buy it. A document described to you as "mortgage protection" is unlikely to be income protection, even though the two get mixed up at the point of sale.

Questions that separate the two on paper

• Does the policy pay you, or does it pay the lender directly?
• Does it cover redundancy, or illness and injury only?
• Is there a limit on how long it pays per claim, or does it continue until you return to work?

If income protection is the product you are actually looking at, further detail on how it works is available on IncomeProtectionCover.co.uk.

Support for Mortgage Interest is a loan from the state, secured against your home, that can help with the interest on your mortgage if you cannot meet it yourself. It only becomes available once you have been receiving Universal Credit or income-based Employment and Support Allowance for a qualifying period, so it is not something you can turn to the moment you fall behind.

It is a loan you repay when the home is sold, according to GOV.UK (read 29 September 2026). That is a different shape from sick pay, income protection or an insurance payout, all of which give you money you keep. Support for Mortgage Interest sits on the property as a debt and is settled out of the proceeds when it changes hands.

What it covers

As the name says, it is aimed at the interest on your mortgage. The qualifying period and the current conditions are set out on GOV.UK, and because this kind of detail is reviewed from time to time, it is worth checking the current guidance directly against your own circumstances.

Why this is worth knowing before you decide on cover

If you are weighing up payment protection, Support for Mortgage Interest is one of the things already sitting behind you, alongside anything from your employer or the state. It will not replace a monthly income, and it does not arrive straight away, but it is part of the position you are actually in rather than the position a policy document assumes you are in.

If you fall behind on your mortgage, your lender has to try to help you get back on track before it moves towards repossession. This is usually called forbearance. It does not mean the debt disappears or that missed payments stop being owed. It means the lender has to look at your situation and consider ways to make the mortgage manageable again before resorting to legal action.

What forbearance can look like

There is no single form it takes. Depending on your circumstances and what your lender offers, it might include:

• A temporary reduction in your monthly payment
• A payment holiday for an agreed period
• Switching part or all of the mortgage to interest-only for a time
• Extending the mortgage term, which lowers the monthly payment but increases the total interest paid
• Adding missed payments to the loan balance to be repaid over time

Which of these your lender offers, and whether it offers any of them, is a decision made case by case. None of them is owed to you automatically.

What should happen before repossession is considered

Repossession is expected to be a last resort, used only once other options have genuinely been looked at and have not worked or do not apply. Before that stage, a lender is expected to:

• Contact you promptly once a payment is missed
• Discuss your financial situation with you and ask what has changed
• Set out the options it can offer, in terms you can understand
• Give you a reasonable period to respond and to make a proposal of your own

If your circumstances mean a repayment plan is realistic, that plan is expected to be considered before court action.

Why this matters if you are deciding on payment protection

Forbearance can buy time and reduce pressure, but it is not a substitute for income replaced through insurance or benefits. It changes how the mortgage debt is structured. It does not put money in your pocket to live on, and arrears added to the loan still have to be repaid with interest. Knowing what your lender would realistically offer is one part of working out whether payment protection, or another form of cover, fills a gap that forbearance alone would not.

For more about the organisation behind this resource, see the About page.

Before you agree to payment protection, it is worth finding out what cover already sits behind you. Many people already hold something that does part of the same job, through their employer, through another policy, or through state support that only becomes visible once you need to claim. Payment protection is most useful where it fills a real gap.

Questions to put to your adviser

These are things your adviser should be able to answer from your employment terms and your existing paperwork. If they cannot, that is worth noting in itself.

• What would I be paid if I were off sick for a long period, and for how long would that last?
• Do I already hold any income protection or accident, sickness and unemployment cover, through this mortgage, through work, or through another policy?
• Does my employer's sick pay run out before this policy would start paying anything?
• If I lost my job, would I qualify for help with my mortgage interest from the state, and how long would I have to wait for it?
• Has my lender told me what it would do before taking action if I fell behind on payments?
• If I already hold some cover, what would this policy actually add that I do not already have?

The answers tell you whether this policy closes a gap in what you already have, or repeats cover you are already paying for elsewhere.

This page explains how cover works and what to check. The choice of whether to take out, keep or cancel a policy is yours, made with the insurer or a regulated adviser.