An introduction to Dentists Provident 3 Dentists Provident
About Dentists Provident We have supported dentists with income protection insurance in the UK and Ireland for over a hundred years, and are the market leading provider with 13,500 members. As we are a specialist, our members benefit from our in-depth experience of tailoring solutions for every stage of their personal and professional lives. Our members also benefit from our innovative and ethical approach to claims, and personal customer service. We are a mutual organisation with no share shareholders, so we exist solely for the benefit of our members, who share in our financial surpluses. 2 Dentists Provident
About protection No one wants to think about falling ill or having an accident but, as well as the unexpected, it is worth remembering, that dentistry is a physically and mentally demanding profession, so it s no surprise that many dentists suffer from some form of illness or injury during their careers. Not being able to work will affect your lifestyle, not just in terms of day to day living but also financially. The extent of this effect will obviously depend on your personal circumstances. Every year we help over a thousand dentists support their lifestyles, when they are off sick from work. Some of these members, a few just in their 30s, will never be able to practise dentistry again, so they will receive this financial support until they retire. Have you asked yourself if you could maintain your lifestyle if you were off sick? What is income protection? Income protection insurance pays you a regular income, often until your retirement age, if you cannot work because you are ill or injured, in return for you paying a regular premium. We have been providing dentists with income protection insurance for over a hundred years, to help reduce the financial worries of ill health, giving you the safety of a regular income, to replace any earnings you lose by not being able to work. Key statistics from our income protection claims in 2013 The average age of the dentists who claimed benefits was 45 11 per cent of our working members claimed The average payment per claim was over 3,000 The largest claim we paid a dentist amounted to over 60,000 Musculoskeletal claims In 2013 over a third of our claims paid to our members were for musculoskeletal disorders. It s no surprise that back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal issues for dentists, explains Bryan Gross, our head of claims and underwriting. What is surprising is that people assume that musculoskeletal disorders are an age related issue, but in reality our experience shows that they can occur at any time. We regularly hear accounts of rapid onset back pain one day you re sitting happily in surgery, caring for a patient; the next day the pain hits and you re barely able to move. Who should consider income protection? Employed dentists (working in a dental hospital, the armed forces, a company or in dental community services) As an employed dentist, you will often have sick pay cover from the NHS or your employer, so it is important to know what your entitlement is. This could cover you in the short term, but what would you need if you were off for longer? As an NHS employee, you could receive your full salary for up to six months and half your salary for the next six months. Beyond that you could find yourself reliant on state benefits, if you have no other sources of income. What health protection products are there? The health insurance industry can give you the peace of mind that you and your family are supported, if you fall ill or are injured. Products include: Income protection that pays you a regular income if you aren t able to work, because of an illness or injury Critical illness which pays you a lump sum only if you contract one of the specific illnesses listed in your policy Private medical insurance which covers the cost of private medical treatment for acute conditions Long term care insurance that will finance long term care, if you are unable to care for yourself Accident, sickness and unemployment cover that usually provides benefits for a limited period, such as a mortgage payment protection, which may cover your mortgage for a year or two, if you are off sick or made redundant Nilesh, a 27 year old dentist, graduated three years ago and completed his foundation year in Wales. He is now an associate in a mixed practice in Bristol. He joined Dentists Provident when he was in his foundation year. He is self-employed and earns 35,000 pa from private practice. He chose an income protection plan with day one cover; which meant he would be paid benefits from his first full day off sick. He chose a weekly cover of 400, to give him the maximum cover of 60% of his taxable income from his work and, as a non-smoker, he pays a monthly premium of 39. He doesn t have any other income protection insurance products. Last year he was off work for three months with back pain, and was paid benefits of around 5,000 by us, to support his loss of income from the practice. This is a not a real case but an illustrative example, to help you understand our plan better. Practice expenses/overhead insurances (including locum cover) provide reimbursement for the expenses of operating your practice, if you cannot work. It may include rent, utilities and other fixed costs Dentists Provident 3
Self-employed dentists (working in practice) If you work in a practice, you are usually self-employed. This means that you will, most likely, experience an immediate loss of income if you don t see your patients. You therefore might wish to cover this loss from the very first day you are off sick. Current standard NHS contracts have a variety of qualification criteria and don t start paying benefits until you have been off for four weeks with an illness or injury, up to a maximum of 22 weeks in any 52 week period. Would this be enough? Examples of income protection claims paid to individual members in 2013 A member in their late 20s was paid over 16,000 over eight and a half months for musculoskeletal issues A dentist in her late 30s was paid over 2,000 for a stroke that kept her off work for a month A member in his early 40s was off sick for four weeks with a sports injury and we paid him over 2,000 A member in his mid 40s had a road traffic accident and was paid nearly 50,000 over 18 months A dentist in his early 50s was off sick with back pain for nearly four years and we paid him over 24,000 Please see our claims statistics for more details. How does membership with Dentists Provident work? You can be a member for life, with all the security and support that brings. Our plans It s simple, all you need to do is choose the plan to suit the stage you are at in your life and career, and, if appropriate, choose the individual elements to customise it for your personal circumstances. Rachel, a 32 year old dentist, started a job last year as an associate in a small residential private practice just outside her home town of Swindon. She has been a member of Dentists Provident since her VT year. She has now taken the maximum income protection cover for her annual taxable income of 60,000 and she chose her income protection plan to give her cover of 700 from the first full day of injury or illness. Her monthly premium as a non-smoker is 73 and she doesn t have any other income protection insurance policies. Last summer she fractured her hip from a fall on holiday and was paid benefits of over 8,000 for three months off work, as she wasn t earning an income. This is a not a real case but an illustrative example, to help you understand our plan better. Shares As a member of Dentists Provident, you receive a share of our financial surpluses, which accumulate in your bonus account for when you retire. The number of shares you hold has a key role in the size of your bonus account. Our shares don t have a value in their own right, unlike a stock market share which increases or decreases in value. Our shares simply give you the right to our financial surpluses, and how much of them depends on the number of shares, you hold. As a member, you need to hold at least one share. After you have had the dentists income protection plan for at least two years, you can increase your shares depending on the level of your cover, up to a maximum of 3,000 shares. For more details of each of these plans and how our shares work, please read our key features documents and rules. We have three types of plans: 1. Our dental students plan a dental students lump sum benefit plan 2. Our dentists income protection plan which includes our foundation dentists package 3. Our retired dentists plan for members over 50 who no longer need their income protection Dentists Provident 4
1. Our dental students plan Our dental students lump sum benefit plan supports you by paying you a one off sum of 45,000/ 60,000 if you cannot finish your degree and start work as a dentist, because of certain illnesses or accidents. A dental student in their final year was hit by a car on a night out. They had very severe head injuries, so they could no longer train as a dentist. Although an exit degree was awarded by the university, because of their injuries they could never work as a healthcare worker where manual skills were required. 2. Our dentists income protection plan Our income protection plan supports you by paying you a regular benefit, if you can t work because you are ill or injured and are losing income. It is very flexible with a number of options, to help you customise the plan to suit your personal circumstances. Here are some of the highlights, but please read the key features document and our rules for more information. The standard features of this plan include an own occupation definition of incapacity, based on you not being able to perform your occupation as a dentist. Some insurers have different definitions and will only pay you if your illness doesn t allow you to work in another suitable occupation. You can cover up to 60% of your taxable income from your work and choose how soon you would like your benefit payments to start after you become ill (your deferred period) starting from immediately, to up to two years. The longer your deferred period, the cheaper your premiums are likely to be. You can also choose whether you would like your benefit payments to reduce, stay constant or increase with inflation throughout a long term claim. Professor Mark Woolford: Associate Dean (Education), King s College London Dental Institute says: When you are young you never think about protecting yourself. But nine months after graduating I was involved in an accident (at Le Mans!) and had to take 11 weeks off work. Without any support that would have been very difficult. The best thing I did was to get covered in my final year at dental school. My mates thought I was daft at the time, but you never know when life may go pear-shaped. Our foundation dentists package Part of our dentists income protection plan is designed specifically for foundation dentists. This package pays you a regular benefit, if you can t work because you are off ill or injured and are losing income. You can benefit from a substantial discount on our standard premium rates for up to 24 months, or until you finish your time as a foundation dentist, whichever is sooner. This package is tailored to complement the sickness cover you receive from the NHS as a foundation dentist and your benefits start after you have been off work for eight weeks, and can cost as little as 5.93 a month.* At the end of the discounted period, your standard plan will automatically convert to an immediate benefit plan, providing level benefits of 300 per week. However, at this stage, you can customise it by choosing additional options that best suit your individual circumstances. *Standard discounted premium for a 23 year old non smoker. 3. Our retired dentists plan When your dentists income protection plan ends, or if you are over 50 years old and retire, or your personal circumstances change and you no longer have an income to protect, or your income has reduced significantly, then you can move onto our retired dentists plan. This option allows you to remain a member and continue building up your bonus account, even though you no longer require income protection cover. We have a number of other options you can add to your plan, such as severe disability benefits and benefit enhancement on death, so please see our key features document for more information. Dentists Provident 5
John joined Dentists Provident in 1967 and semi-retired in 2010, although he didn t need his income protection cover any more, he wanted to keep his bonus account. His bonus account is now more than 40,000 and the balance continues to grow. A bit more about us Our claims philosophy Our philosophy has always been based around decency and fairness, with an ethical and innovative approach to claims. We understand the importance of a simple claims process and most short term claims are paid within days of us receiving the claim. We will never refuse a claim or cancel your membership simply based on your claims history. Our member benefits As a member, we want you to have access to advice and guidance from reputable and relevant third parties, to help you in your practising and personal life. Whether it is advice on posture and back care, offers for ergonomic instruments, complimentary preventive exercise classes and techniques, or reduced prices for lectures, we want to support your health and wellbeing throughout your membership. You can view our articles and offers on the member benefits pages on our website www.dentistsprovident.co.uk What do I do now? Speak to your independent financial advisor, go online or call or e-mail our member services team to get a quote. We will then send you your personalised illustration, as well as more information about how to become a member. Member services team: 0207 400 5710 or memberservices@dentistsprovident.co.uk Address: Dentists Provident, 91-94 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8QP Fax: +44 (0) 20 7400 5701 Office opening hours: 9am 5pm, Monday to Friday www.dentistsprovident.co.uk Lucy (26), a Dentists Provident member, had just secured her first job in practice after finishing her dental foundation year. Throughout dental school and her foundation year, Lucy had been advised to become a member of Dentists Provident but, like most young people, she had never expected to be claiming from us so early on in her career. I was settling into my new practice job. I enjoyed the place, the people. As far as I was aware I was fit and healthy and enjoying life. Gradually I started to feel very run down and I went to my GP. I was quickly diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and the next thing I knew I was in hospital for over a month. In total I was off work and out of practice for nine weeks and the 5,000 financial support received from Dentists Provident was invaluable, as I wasn t earning any income. It was a real worry and there was a time I wondered if I would ever feel myself again. Fortunately, I m now back at work happy and healthy, but it makes me realise just how important having the right support in place is, just in case. Registered office: 91-94 Saffron Hill, London, England, EC1N 8QP Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7400 5700 We may monitor calls to improve our service. Fax: +44 (0) 20 7400 5701 www.dentistsprovident.co.uk Dentists Provident is the trading name of Dentists Provident Society Limited which is incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Friendly Societies Act 1992 (Registration Number 407F). Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Firm Reference Number 110015). 10/14