Sick pay and income protection
Self-employed: income protection when there is no sick pay
Without an employer there is no company sick pay and no Statutory Sick Pay. The calculator starts the state support at New Style ESA.
Independent site, not an insurer, broker or government service: benefit claims are made only on GOV.UK.
Self-employed: what the state pays while you cannot work
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
New Style ESA a month, first 13 weeks
£414
| Then a month | £414 |
| Savings last until week | 20 |
| Shortfall over 2 years | £47,831 |
No Statutory Sick Pay when self-employed. New Style ESA needs enough National Insurance contributions; in the work-related activity group it stops after 365 days.
Self-employed people get no Statutory Sick Pay, because SSP is paid by an employer. If illness or injury stops the work, the state support is New Style ESA, which a self-employed person can claim if they have paid enough National Insurance, usually over the last two or three years. It starts at the assessment rate of £95.55 a week from age 25, about £414 a month, for 13 weeks, then £95.55 a week in the work-related activity group for up to 365 days in all, or £145.90 in the support group. For someone of 42 with £2,200 of monthly outgoings and £8,000 saved, the savings are gone by week 20, and the two-year shortfall is £47,831. That is the gap an income protection policy with a short deferred period is meant to fill.
Rates read and sums checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the figures are worked out
What the state pays a self-employed person
The table follows New Style ESA at the DWP rates for 2026/27, assuming the National Insurance record qualifies and the work-related activity group after the assessment. The last column is what is left to find each month against £2,200 of outgoings.
| Phase | Weeks | A week | A month | Short each month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Style ESA, assessment rate | 1 to 13 | £95.55 | £414 | £1,786 |
| New Style ESA, work-related activity group | 14 to 52 | £95.55 | £414 | £1,786 |
| After New Style ESA ends | 53 to 104 | £0.00 | £0 | £2,200 |
After 365 days in the work-related activity group, contribution-based support stops. From then on only Universal Credit remains, and it is means-tested. A person placed in the support group keeps ESA at £145.90 a week with no time limit, which cuts the two-year shortfall to £38,281.
The gap with a policy
With a policy paying £1,800 a month after four weeks, the same person’s two-year shortfall falls to £6,449. The short deferred period does most of the work: with no employer paying the first months, every week of deferral is a week of outgoings paid from savings. Those who keep several months of spending in cash can choose a longer period and a lower premium; the deferred period page shows the trade-off week by week.
Limited company directors
A director who is an employee of their own company can be paid Statutory Sick Pay by the company if they are classed as an employee, at £123.25 a week at most, if the company keeps paying them as an employee. In practice a one-person company often has no income while the director cannot work, so SSP is no real help. Some directors arrange a policy through the company instead, sometimes alongside key person cover; the tax treatment then follows the company rules, not the personal exemption.
What to read in a self-employed policy
How earnings are measured and over how many years; whether the definition of incapacity is your own occupation or any suited work, which matters for skilled trades; whether the benefit is reduced by other income such as rental profits; and how long each claim can last. A policy that pays for one or two years per claim costs less and still covers the period in which the state support is thinnest. Benefits from a policy you pay yourself are free of income tax under section 735 of ITTOIA 2005.
Checking your National Insurance record
GOV.UK says New Style ESA depends on having worked and paid enough National Insurance contributions, usually in the last two to three years, with National Insurance credits also counting. Self-employed people whose profits were low in some years, or who spent time abroad or out of work without credits, should check their record on GOV.UK before relying on it. A gap means the state support in the table above may not be paid at all, and the whole of the shortfall then falls on savings and on any private policy the person holds.