TAL Income Protection

Protect up to 75% of your income if you can't work following illness or injury with TAL Income Protection.

Updated Aug 12, 2020

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TAL is an insurer that offers income protection cover for Australians who are looking to protect their lifestyle if something stops them from working for a period of time. TAL offers two ways to get cover:

Through an adviser. If you need some help assessing your needs and a walk-through the application process.
Directly with TAL. If you prefer to apply for income protection yourself you can get cover through it's direct channel.

We don't currently have this brand on our panel. But you can head to tal.com.au or compare more income protection options with finder.

Compare income protection

Note: This summary is based on TAL's retail policy (sold through an adviser). For information about getting cover directly with TAL, check out our review here.

Maximum monthly income	$30,000 (Up to 75% of your monthly income)
Age of entry	19-60
Types of cover available	Income Protection Standard Income Protection Premier Income Protection Super
How much can I expect to pay?	For an annual income of $75,000: $75.61 per month to cover 75% of your monthly income
How do I apply?	Over the phone with an adviser

_{Based on TAL Accelerated Income Protection. Age of entry varies with the type of premium you choose. Costs are an estimate based on a 35 year old male living in NSW, non-smoking office worker and was taken out on August 2020 using Finder's quote engine. Cost is subject to change at anytime.}

Pros	Cons
Three types of cover to suit various circumstances	Some levels of cover won't let you change benefit period later on
Strong claims performance compared to the industry
Each type of cover includes wide range of build in benefits

_{Based on TAL Accelerated Income Protection. Information last checked on August 2020. Always consult the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).}

This cover might be suitable if:

You are after an insurer that has performed better than the industry in terms of income protection insurance claims.
You are after a flexible choice of cover with the help of an adviser (or directly)
You want the option to link your superannuation to a policy

Don't get this cover if:

You don't want to use an adviser

_{Based on TAL Accelerated Income Protection. Information last checked on August 2020. Always consult the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).}

Note: The following is based on the insurer TAL Services Limited.

Claims data	TAL (Adviser channel)	Industry Average
Claims Accepted	94.4%	94.2%
Average claim time	1.2	1.6
Claim disputes (per 100,000 lives insured)	119.9	129.9

_{We looked at APRA data for claims over 2017-2018. The statistics above reflect 'income protection' claims.}

Features and benefits of TAL Income Protection Cover

As mentioned, there are two main ways to get TAL Income Protection Insurance. A different policy (and features) is offered with each channel:

Directly with TAL. You are offered what's known as TAL Lifetime Protection Income Protection.
Through an adviser. You are offered what's known as TAL Accelerated Income Protection.

TAL Lifetime Protection Income Protection (Directly with TAL)

Pays out a monthly benefit of up to 75% of your income, up to $12,000. You can choose a waiting period of 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 13 weeks or 2 years and can choose a maximum benefit period of 1, 2 or 5 years.

TAL Lifetime Protection Income Protection

What are the benefits offered by TAL Accelerated Income Protection? (Adviser)

These benefits are explained in detail under the table.

Benefits	Super	Standard	Premier
Total Disability Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Partial Disability Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Inflation Protection Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Death Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Concurrent Disability Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recurrent Disability Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Waiver of Premium Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Elective Surgery Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bed Confinement Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Family Support Benefit	No	Yes	Yes
Housekeeper Benefit	No	Yes	Yes
Scheduled Injury Benefit	No	Yes	Yes
Blood Borne Diseases Benefit	Yes	Yes	Yes
Child Care Benefit	No	No	Yes
Child’s Critical Illness Benefit	No	No	Yes
Rehabilitation Expense Reimbursement Benefit	No	Yes	Yes
Overseas Assistance Benefit	No	No	Yes
Long Distance Accommodation and Transport Benefit	No	No	Yes
Involuntary Unemployment Benefit	No	No	No
Premium Pause Benefit	Yes	No	Yes
Guaranteed Future Insurability Benefit	No	No	Yes
Change of Waiting Period Benefit	No	No	Yes

^{Conditions apply, make sure you read the product disclosure statement (PDS) before applying. Information last checked as correct in August 2020 and is subject to change at anytime.}

TAL Income Protection Plan Benefits – Standard

TAL Income Protection Standard Insurance policy includes the following built in benefits. These benefits are also offered on the Premiere plan.

Death benefit: If the Life Insured dies we will pay a lump sum equal to three times the monthly Benefit Amount, to a maximum of $25,000 will be paid.
Total Disability Benefit: On a successful claim, an amount equal to 75% of the insured's average monthly income will be paid each month, in arrears, from the finish of the chosen waiting period onwards.
Partial Disability Benefit: If the insured person can only work in a reduced fashion as a result of an injury or illness, the benefit will take into account the insured’s earnings prior to the disability and any earning during the month prior to the claim being made.

Inflation Protection Benefit: The tower income protection now known as the TAL income protection standard insurance policy will be automatically adjusted annually to take in any inflationary trends. This will be based on the Consumer Price Index or nothing less than three percent. These adjustments can affect your premium costs therefore you will have an option to delete this benefit if you wish.
Concurrent Disability Benefit: Where you suffer from a concurrent disability in addition to a current injury or illness your payments will reflect the disability that attracts the highest payment. This means you will always be paid the maximum payment.
Recurrent Disability Benefit: In the event that an illness or sickness returns within 12 months of the previous claim being terminated TAL, or tower income protection, as it was known previously, will regard it as being part of the original claim. This means there will be no waiting period to be considered and payments will begin immediately.
Premium Waiver Benefit: If you are receiving benefit payments because of a total or partial disability claim all income protection premiums will be waived during that time.
Family support: TAL, or as was previously tower income protection, will pay a monthly amount of up to $5,000 for up to three months, if a member of the immediate family has to cease paid work to care for you, if you are the insured person. To become eligible for this benefit you must have been totally disabled for at least 28 days.
Housekeeper Benefit: If you are totally reliant on a person to care for you, who is not a family member, while you are totally disabled, TAL income protection will make a monthly payment of up to $5,000 to that person. You must however have been totally disabled for 28 days and be confined to bed at your home to be eligible for this benefit to be paid.
Bed Confinement Benefit: During your TAL income protection waiting period you can be eligible for a proportion of your benefit to be paid if you are confined to bed by a doctor. You must be confined to your bed for at least three consecutive days.
Scheduled Injury Benefit: Depending on the type of injury involved, TAL income protection standard will make payments for a specific period for scheduled events.
Elective Surgery Benefit: TAL will consider you to be totally disabled due to illness if the disablement was caused by a transplant operation, cosmetic surgery, or elective surgery undertaken on the advice of your doctor.
Blood Borne Diseases Benefit: If you are working as a medical professional and you contract a blood borne disease such as HIV, Hepatitis B or C, you will be eligible to receive a benefit payment.

TAL Income Protection Plan – Premier

TAL Income Protection Premier Insurance has additional built-in benefits that are not available through Standard plan. These include:

Child Care Benefit: You will receive a child care benefit of up to $500 per month to cover the outside care of your children under 12 years of age.
Child’s Critical Illness Benefit: Pays a benefit of $10,000, if your child (aged between two and 19 next birthday) suffers a Child’s Critical Illness .

Rehabilitation Expense Reimbursement Benefit: TAL will reimburse the cost of your rehabilitation program to a maximum of six times the full benefit amount.
Overseas Assistance Benefit: This benefit will pay the cost of emergency transportation to Australia from anywhere in the world if you suffer total disability that lasts for a minimum of 28 days.
Long Distance Accommodation and Transport Benefit: TAL will reimburse any incurred accommodation costs of up to $250 a day for up to 30 days if you become totally disabled and have to travel over 100km for professional treatment
Involuntary Unemployment Benefit: TAL will waive your premiums including that of any optional benefits you may have incurred, if you remain unemployed through no fault of your own and not due to injury or illness, for up to three months from the date of you first becoming unemployed.

TAL Income Protection Plan – Super

When taking out TAL Income Protection with an adviser you can also you to structure your payments through super. If you choose this method, you'll be offered the Income Plan - Super.

As shown in the table above, the Super plan is similar to the Standard plan, but without a family support, housekeeper and scheduled injury benefit.

One of the key features is the Superannuation Pause Benefit. This allows the policyholder to suspend cover and premium payments if they end up out of work for reasons other than sickness and injury.

You also have the option of Superlinking your cover. This let's you take out additional cover outside of super (e.g. the Premier or Standard plan) so you can take advantage more extensive features but also have a superannuation structure.

With TAL income protection insurance, you have the peace of mind knowing that no matter happens to you, your family will be taken care of financially. You have the flexibility to tailor your income protection plan to match your individual needs to ensure sufficient protection is in place, without taking a big chuck out of your budget.

Thank you for your feedback!

William Eve

Willam Eve is the country manager for Finder's Canada operations. He has previously held the positions of group publisher of insurance for Finder Australia and lead publisher for the Finder global team. William has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He loves the challenge of launching Finder into new markets while helping grow Finder’s global team.

More guides on Finder

TAL Superannuation Life Insurance
Read the finder.com.au review of TAL Superannuation Life Insurance.

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TAL Income Protection

Protect up to 75% of your income if you can't work following illness or injury with TAL Income Protection.

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