Holloway Friendly Income Protection

A friendly society specialising in income protection, and one of the longer-established names in that market. A friendly society is a mutual — it has members rather than shareholders — which is a different ownership model from a listed insurer, though what matters practically is the policy wording rather than the corporate structure.

A mutual organisation owned by its members rather than by shareholders. In protection they tend to be smaller than the household-name insurers and often concentrate on a narrow range of products, most commonly income protection. That focus is the practical reason to consider one: an insurer writing a lot of a particular risk usually has more considered underwriting on it.

It is a serious contender, and specialisation is the reason. An insurer writing income protection as its main business has detailed underwriting on the cases that matter — manual occupations, self-employment, unusual working patterns. The comparison worth running is on terms rather than premium: the incapacity definition, the deferred period and how long the policy pays.

Occupation classification is one of the areas insurers approach differently, and it matters a great deal if you work with your hands. The same job can sit in different classes at different insurers, which changes the premium and the terms available. An insurer that writes a lot of income protection for trades has usually thought harder about exactly that, which is why a specialist is worth comparing.

Income protection is available to self-employed people across the market, and it is arguably more important for them than for anyone else because there is no employer sick pay behind them. The thing to get right is how the benefit is calculated — for a sole trader or director it is usually based on profit or drawings rather than a salary figure, and getting that wrong at application is what causes arguments at claim.

Yes. UK insurers are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority whatever their size, and long-term insurance policies are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. A friendly society sits under exactly the same regime as the household names, so choosing a specialist is a decision about expertise rather than a trade against security.

They bring different strengths. A large insurer offers breadth across life, critical illness and income protection, which is genuinely convenient when several needs sit together, and a name your family will recognise. A specialist concentrates on one product and tends to have more detailed underwriting within it. Both are worth comparing, and which fits depends on your occupation, your health and what you are buying.

Yes, it is on our agency list. As with every insurer we deal with, the premium is the same as arranging it directly and we are paid commission by the insurer, which is disclosed.

They are frequently confused and do genuinely different jobs. Critical illness pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a condition named in the policy. Income protection pays a monthly income for as long as you are unable to work, whatever the cause, listed or not. If your worry is being unable to earn rather than a particular diagnosis, income protection is usually the more relevant of the two.

By terms first, especially for income protection, because two policies with the same monthly benefit and premium can be worth very different amounts depending on the incapacity definition and how long they pay. A recognisable name has real value at claim time too — it is simply the second question, not the first.