Income Protection for Security Officers

Security is one of the few jobs on this list where somebody may deliberately try to hurt you, and the rest of the risk is the night shift.

Door work, retail security and night patrols all involve confronting people who do not want to be confronted, usually at the end of a long shift, often alone. Alongside that sits the quieter damage: years of nights, standing for twelve hours, and the health effects that come with both.

Income protection pays a monthly amount while you cannot work, and for most officers there is very little else.

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The short answer

Security work carries a genuine risk of assault and a licence requirement, which is an unusual combination. An officer who is injured dealing with an incident may also face a long gap while things are investigated, and most security work is agency or contract with statutory sick pay at best. Income protection replaces a monthly amount while you cannot work.

What actually stops you working

Assault, which in this work is an occupational risk rather than an exceptional event
Injuries from restraint and physical intervention, particularly to shoulders, knees and hands
Back and leg problems from standing and patrolling for twelve-hour shifts
The long-term health effects of sustained night work, including cardiac and metabolic conditions
Post-traumatic stress and anxiety following serious incidents
Anything that affects the licence, because without it the work stops entirely

Sick pay, if you get any

Statutory sick pay at best and often nothing. Most security work is agency or contract, so being unavailable means no shifts rather than paid absence, and self-employed door supervisors have nothing behind them at all. A few in-house roles with large employers do better, so it is worth checking your own arrangement.

Why the definition of incapacity decides it

Security work requires the physical capability to intervene and the licence to be there at all. Somebody recovering from a shoulder injury sustained restraining a person can usually do office work and cannot do a door, and somebody who has lost the licence is in the same position for an entirely different reason. An own occupation definition is what makes the policy reflect either situation.

Being Assaulted Is Part Of The Risk Profile

Most jobs on this site are dangerous by accident. Security is one of the few where the danger is deliberate.

Door supervisors and retail officers deal with people who are drunk, angry, caught or all three, and physical intervention is part of the role rather than a failure of it. The injuries are shoulders, knees, hands and heads, and some of them are serious. There is also a secondary problem specific to this work: an incident may be investigated, and a period of suspension or absence during that is unpaid for most officers.

Because income protection responds to being unable to work through injury, it covers the physical consequence. The practical lesson is to think about how long you could manage without shifts, because that period is longer in this trade than the injury alone suggests.

Nights Take A Toll Nobody Measures

The dramatic risk gets the attention and the shift pattern does the steady damage.

Years of night work are associated with cardiac and metabolic problems, disturbed sleep, and the health effects that follow from both. It is cumulative, it is invisible, and it tends to show up as a diagnosis in middle age rather than as an incident.

That is a covered cause like any other illness, and it is an argument for arranging cover while the medical history is short rather than after the first set of results. It is also worth being accurate about shift patterns at application, because that is part of describing the job honestly.

If you stop

Agency and contract shifts stop being offered immediately, because a site cannot be left uncovered and somebody else is booked in. Regular door work at a particular venue is usually filled within a week, and getting the spot back depends on who is available when you are fit rather than on any arrangement.

Agency Work Leaves Nothing Behind

Whether a security officer's family receives anything depends entirely on how the work was arranged, and most arrangements provide nothing.

Agency and contract officers have no death in service, no business and no asset. A self-employed door supervisor has a licence that dies with them. Only an in-house role with a larger employer is likely to carry a death benefit, and plenty do not.

So establish what exists before deciding how much life cover to arrange, and size it against the household rather than assuming the employer provides a base to build on.

A Lump Sum When You Cannot Do The Physical Part Again

The realistic career-ending scenario in security is an injury or condition that removes the ability to intervene physically.

A knee or a shoulder that will not take another restraint, or a cardiac condition that makes confrontation unwise, ends door and retail work while leaving somebody employable elsewhere. Monthly cover pays while you are unfit and stops when you are fit for some work, which may be long before you can earn the same money.

Capital funds the move: into control room, CCTV, supervision or something else entirely, or simply reduces outgoings so a lower paid role is survivable. It is worth checking which conditions a policy actually pays on before relying on it.

Common questions

Do security officers get sick pay?+

Statutory sick pay at best and often nothing, because most security work is agency or contract where being unavailable means no shifts rather than paid absence. Self-employed door supervisors have nothing behind them at all. Some in-house roles with large employers do better, so check your own arrangement before deciding how long you could wait before cover starts.

Am I covered if I am injured restraining someone?+

Income protection responds to being unable to work through injury, whatever the circumstances, so an injury sustained during a physical intervention is treated like any other. The practical point is that an incident may also be investigated, and any suspension or absence during that is unpaid for most officers, so the gap can be longer than the injury alone would suggest.

Does night work affect my health or my cover?+

Sustained night work is associated with cardiac and metabolic problems and disturbed sleep, and those are covered causes like any other illness if they stop you working. It is worth describing your shift pattern accurately at application as part of describing the job honestly, and worth arranging cover while your medical history is short rather than after the first set of results.

What happens if I lose my licence?+

If the reason is medical and it stops you working, that is the kind of situation income protection is designed for, because it responds to being medically unable to do your occupation. A licence lost for other reasons is not a medical matter and would not be covered. Given the licence is what makes the work possible at all, it is worth raising specifically when arranging cover.

I work agency shifts across several sites. Can I still get cover?+

Yes, and the part to get right is how your income is evidenced, since insurers generally base the benefit on earnings and agency income varies. Bring payslips or statements covering a typical few months and we will work out what level of cover that supports. Tell us what kind of work it is too, because doors, retail, corporate and events are different jobs.

Cover that often goes with this

The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.