Income Protection For Energy Assessors
An energy assessment is a measuring job done in somebody else's home, usually by one person with a laser measure and a torch.
The survey means every room, the loft hatch, the boiler, the insulation and sometimes the roof, in whatever condition the property happens to be. Retrofit assessments go further still.
It is paid per job, which makes the volume the income and the diary the business.
The short answer
Energy assessors survey properties for EPCs and retrofit assessments, which means visiting houses alone, getting into lofts and sometimes onto roofs, and being paid per assessment rather than per hour. Accreditation scheme membership is what allows the certificate to be lodged at all. Income protection replaces part of your earnings if illness or injury stops you working.
What actually stops you working
- Falls through ceilings or from loft ladders, which is the characteristic accident in this work
- Falls from ladders when inspecting roofs, flat roofs and external insulation
- Back, knee and shoulder injuries from repeated loft access and crawling in roof spaces
- Respiratory exposure to loft dust, fibre and, in older properties, disturbed asbestos-containing materials
- Lone working incidents in occupied properties, including aggression and dogs
- Road traffic accidents, since the job is substantially driving between appointments
- Any condition affecting mobility enough to stop loft and roof access
Sick pay, if you get any
Almost all assessors are self-employed, working for panels, estate agents or direct, and paid per assessment. There is no sick pay, and because the income is volume-driven the drop is immediate and total rather than tapering.
Why the definition of incapacity decides it
Own occupation is close to essential, because the limiting factor is physical access rather than knowledge. Somebody who cannot get into a loft is employable in plenty of office work and cannot do assessments, which an any occupation policy would treat as fit for work.
The Loft Hatch Is Where This Job Gets Hurt
The survey sounds clerical and the access is not, and this is where the serious injuries come from.
An assessor has to see the insulation, which means a loft ladder somebody else owns, into a space with no floor, carrying a torch and a tablet. Plasterboard will not take a person's weight, so a foot between the joists goes through the ceiling, and the injuries come from the sudden stop: back, pelvis, legs.
That is a sudden, serious, long-absence injury happening to somebody who is otherwise fit, in a job that pays per assessment with no sick pay behind it. A realistic benefit level and a short deferred period matter more here than a long-term plan.
Lone Visits Into Properties You Know Nothing About
This is the exposure that has nothing to do with the survey and is rarely declared.
An assessor arrives alone at an address, often with only an agent's booking, and goes through every room of an occupied property. Most visits are entirely routine. A minority involve aggression, dogs, hoarded or unsafe conditions, or a tenant who did not know anybody was coming.
If any of that has led to anxiety, treatment or time off, declare it properly rather than filing it under the job. Our page on depression and anxiety covers what we would ask, and a policy bought on an incomplete picture is the one that causes difficulty at claim.
If you stop
EPCs are needed at the point a property is marketed or let, so the agent cannot wait: they instruct another assessor the same day. Panel work is allocated, so an unavailable assessor stops being allocated, and the allocation does not reliably come back.
What A Household Is Left With In This Work
Self-employed assessors have no death in service, so the household has whatever has been arranged privately and nothing else.
There is no business to realise either: the accreditation and the diary belong to the individual, and neither transfers.
The sum worth covering is the mortgage, any vehicle finance, and the years of income a household would need, measured against a full year of assessment income rather than a busy month.
A Lump Sum When You Cannot Get Into The Loft
The characteristic ending is a back or a joint problem that permanently rules out loft access, in somebody with the qualification and the knowledge intact.
That is a narrow physical restriction that removes the entire job while leaving other work available on less money.
A lump sum funds the move, and the routes are genuinely there: retrofit coordination, which is office-based and better paid, plus auditing, training and technical work for accreditation schemes and software providers.
If It Is Just You And A Diary
A one-person assessment business has modest costs and they all continue: accreditation and scheme fees, professional indemnity, software subscriptions, insurance and the car.
There is no capacity to operate at reduced output, because every assessment needs the assessor to be physically in the property.
Cover can be sized to include those continuing costs as well as personal income, which is worth doing when the business genuinely cannot run without you at all.
Common questions
Can a self-employed energy assessor get income protection?+
Yes, and it is worth describing the loft and roof access rather than accepting a clerical classification. Saying how many assessments you do a week and whether you do retrofit work gets a policy priced on the real job.
What is the commonest serious accident?+
Going through a ceiling after putting a foot between joists in a loft. Plasterboard will not take a person's weight, and the injuries come from the sudden stop: back, pelvis and legs.
What deferred period should I choose?+
A short one. There is no sick pay, the income is per assessment so it stops immediately, and agents instruct another assessor the same day rather than waiting.
Do I need to mention trouble at a property?+
If it has led to anxiety, treatment or time off, yes. Lone visits into occupied properties occasionally involve aggression or unsafe conditions, and that is real medical history rather than part of the job.
What about asbestos in older houses?+
Loft and roof inspections in older properties can disturb asbestos-containing materials. For an application, anything you have been told about an exposure or a referral belongs in your answers.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.
- How income protection worksDeferred periods, claims and the policy mechanics.
- Income protection for loft insulation installersThe same roof spaces, as the job rather than the survey.
- Income protection for estate agentsWho instructs the work, and lone property visits.
- Self-employed income protectionCover when you are paid per job.
If you run the business as well: there is cover a company can hold and pay for rather than you funding it from taxed income, and cover that buys out an owner's share if one of you dies. Which applies depends on how you are set up, and it is worth five minutes.