Income Protection for Window Cleaners

Window cleaning looks like the lowest risk job on this list and is not, for two reasons that have nothing to do with how dangerous it is.

The first is that the business is a round rather than a skill. Miss a customer twice and somebody else is cleaning their windows. The second is that most window cleaners drive to work, all day, and a driving licence is the thing holding the round together.

Income protection pays monthly while you cannot work. For this trade the important question is not just how long you are off, it is how much of the round is still there when you get back.

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The short answer

A window cleaner's income is a round, and a round is a perishable thing: customers who are not cleaned for two months find somebody else, and they do not come back. That makes time off more damaging here than in trades where the work waits. Income protection replaces a monthly amount while you cannot work, and for a window cleaner the benefit period should allow for rebuilding custom as well as recovering.

What actually stops you working

Shoulder and neck injuries from working a water-fed pole overhead all day
Falls from ladders, still used for conservatories, awkward access and traditional work
Back problems from lifting tanks, hoses and poles in and out of the van
Hand and wrist strain from repetitive pole work in cold weather
Losing a driving licence, through illness, eyesight or a medical condition, which ends the round even when you are otherwise fit
Skin and respiratory reactions to cleaning chemicals on commercial work

Sick pay, if you get any

None for the self-employed, and the round keeps deteriorating while you are off, which is unusual. A plumber who is off for two months has no income for two months. A window cleaner who is off for two months has no income for two months and then comes back to a round that is noticeably smaller, because the customers have been picked up by somebody else.

Why the definition of incapacity decides it

A window cleaner with a bad shoulder can do plenty of jobs and cannot work a pole above head height, which is the work. Because the trade looks physically undemanding from the outside, it is particularly worth having a definition that asks whether you can clean windows rather than whether you can do any job at all. The assumption that this is light work is exactly what an any occupation assessment would lean on.

The Round Is The Asset And It Perishes

Most trades lose income while they are off. Window cleaners lose the thing that generates the income, which is a different and more permanent problem.

A round is built up over years, customer by customer, and it works because it is reliable. Somebody who has their windows cleaned every six weeks and has not seen you for three months does not assume you are ill, they assume you have stopped, and the next cleaner who knocks gets the job. By the time you are fit, a chunk of the round has quietly transferred, and the only way to get it back is to rebuild it the slow way.

So a window cleaner thinking about how long to insure for should think about how long it takes to get back to the income, not how long it takes to get back on the pole. Those are very different numbers in this trade and in almost no other.

The Licence Matters As Much As The Shoulder

Here is a risk window cleaners rarely insure against and should: the thing that most often ends a round is not an injury, it is losing the ability to drive.

A round covers a wide area and the van carries several hundred kilos of water. Lose a licence to an eyesight problem, a cardiac event, epilepsy or a condition that triggers a DVLA notification, and you are perfectly able to clean a window and completely unable to reach the customers. No amount of physical recovery fixes it.

Income protection responds to being unable to work rather than to a particular body part, so a medical condition that stops you driving and therefore stops you working is the kind of thing it is there for. It is worth raising specifically when you arrange cover, because it is the scenario most window cleaners have never considered and the one most likely to end the business.

If you stop

The round goes. Domestic customers notice within a few weeks, another cleaner knocks or they find one, and the arrangement moves. Commercial contracts are worse: a managed building that does not get cleaned simply puts the contract out again, and getting it back means bidding against whoever has it now.

Common questions

Is window cleaning treated as a high risk job?+

It depends on how you work, which is why the detail matters more than the job title. A water-fed pole operator working at ground level is assessed differently from somebody up ladders on conservatories, and commercial work involving cradles or rope access is different again. Insurers ask what you actually do rather than what your trade is called, so describe the mix accurately and let us put it to several of them.

What happens to my round if I am off for two months?+

Some of it goes, and that is the particular problem with this trade. Domestic customers who have not seen you for several cycles assume you have stopped and take on the next cleaner who knocks; commercial contracts get re-tendered. Unlike a plumber, you come back to a smaller business as well as an empty bank account. Factor the rebuilding time into the benefit period rather than just the recovery time.

Would income protection pay if I lost my driving licence?+

If a medical condition stops you driving and therefore stops you working, that is the kind of situation income protection exists for, because it responds to your ability to work rather than to a specific injury. It would not cover a licence lost for a motoring offence, which is not a medical matter. Given the round depends entirely on the van, it is worth raising this scenario specifically when you arrange cover.

Do I need cover if I employ someone to cover the round?+

It changes the picture but rarely removes the need. Somebody covering your round keeps customers served, which protects the asset, but you are still paying them out of income you are not earning, and most one-van operations cannot sustain that for long. Income protection replaces your income so that paying a stand-in does not empty the business while you recover.

How much does income protection cost for a window cleaner?+

It depends on your age, health, how you work and the benefit and deferred period you choose, and we would rather quote you properly than print a figure that turns out not to apply. Insurers differ noticeably on physical outdoor trades, so the same details often come back at quite different prices, which is the argument for going through a broker rather than one provider. Give us your details and we will show you what the panel actually says.

Cover that often goes with this

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