Why Standard Insurance
Fails Clinical Professionals
Generic financial products are designed for generic careers. Your career is anything but generic. The gaps in standard cover can be significant, and most clinicians only discover them when it is too late.
The "Any Occupation" Trap
Most critical illness and income protection policies use an 'any occupation' definition. If a hand injury ends your clinical career but you could still teach or consult, your policy will not pay out. For a clinician earning substantially from practice, being told you can 'still work' is no consolation.
The Limited Company Blind Spot
If you run your private practice through a limited company, personal protection does not protect the business. Your company has overheads, including staff, premises, equipment leases and indemnity insurance, that continue whether you are working or not. Without key person cover, a prolonged absence could threaten the practice itself.
The NHS Pension Gap
Your NHS pension provides valuable benefits, but it does not cover your private income. If you earn substantially from private practice, the NHS ill-health retirement provisions only replace a fraction of your total earnings. The gap between what the NHS provides and what you actually need can be very significant.
Career-Specific Vulnerability
Many clinical specialties depend on fine motor skills, cognitive acuity, and physical endurance. Conditions like essential tremor, peripheral neuropathy, or a significant injury could end a clinical career while leaving you otherwise healthy; risks that generic financial planning simply does not address.
Three Pillars of
Clinician Protection
Each pillar addresses a distinct risk. Together, they form a comprehensive shield around your career, your family, and your practice, structured through your limited company for maximum tax efficiency.
Relevant Life Insurance
Tax-efficient life cover through your company
- Premiums paid by your company, fully deductible against corporation tax
- Pays into a discretionary trust — tax-free lump sum to your family
- No P11D benefit, no National Insurance, no income tax
- Significantly cheaper than personal life cover for higher-rate taxpayers
High clinical income means high inheritance tax exposure. Relevant Life Insurance ensures your family receives a tax-free lump sum, without the policy being treated as a benefit in kind.
Key Person Critical Illness
Lump sum protection for serious diagnoses
- Lump sum paid to your company upon diagnosis of a covered condition
- 164+ conditions covered, including neurological conditions affecting dexterity
- Severity-based payments — partial claims for partial conditions
- Own Occupation TPD confirmed for surgeons on correctly placed policies
A tremor, peripheral neuropathy, or stroke could end your clinical career. When placed correctly, the Total Permanent Disability definition on Key Person CI pays out if you can no longer perform your duties as a surgeon, even if you could still work in another capacity. Getting this right depends entirely on how the policy is structured.
Key Person Income Protection
Monthly income replacement for your practice
- Monthly benefit paid to your company if you are unable to practise
- Own occupation definition available — pays if you cannot perform your clinical role, regardless of whether you could do other work
- Covers the practice's overheads: staff, premises, equipment, indemnity
- Deferred periods from 4 weeks — aligns with your NHS sick pay provisions
If you are unable to practise for six months, your private practice still has bills to pay. Income protection replaces the gross profit your practice loses during your absence.
Why Policy Definitions
Matter More Than Price
The small print in a protection policy determines whether a claim is paid — and for clinical professionals, the stakes are unusually high. Two policies can look identical in a comparison table and produce completely different outcomes at claim time. This is why specialist advice matters.
The Wrong Policy
Some protection policies apply a more restrictive Total Permanent Disability definition to medical professionals — defaulting to "any occupation" or Functional Activity Tests, which only pay out if you cannot perform basic daily living activities. A policy placed without specialist knowledge of how TPD definitions apply to clinical occupations can leave you entirely unprotected.
"An injury ends your surgical career but you could still consult. Under a Functional Activity Test, you are not disabled enough to claim — you receive nothing."
The Right Policy
Surgeons are recognised as low-risk professionals by the leading providers in this space. This means the TPD definition on a correctly placed Key Person Critical Illness policy is Own Occupation: the policy pays out if you can no longer perform the material and substantial duties of a surgeon, regardless of whether you could work in another capacity.
"The same injury. You can no longer operate. Under Own Occupation TPD, your claim is accepted in full — your practice receives the lump sum while you recover or transition."
Not all protection policies treat surgeons the same way. The TPD definition that applies to your policy depends on how it is structured and which product is used — and the difference between a policy that pays and one that does not can come down to details that are invisible in a standard comparison. This is precisely the kind of specialist knowledge we bring to every case.
Why Your Company Should
Pay for Your Protection
When protection is structured correctly through your limited company, the premiums are treated as an allowable business expense. Your company receives full corporation tax relief on every pound spent on protection.
Figures are illustrative. Actual premiums depend on age, health, cover level, and provider. Corporation tax rate assumed at 25%.
Who We Work With
We work with consultant clinicians across a wide range of specialties — surgeons, plastic surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, radiologists, and other medical professionals who run private practices through limited companies.
Our clients are typically NHS consultants who also maintain private practices, though we also work with clinicians in fully private roles. Many come to us through referrals from colleagues who have experienced firsthand the difference between generic financial advice and specialist protection planning.
Whether you are early in your consultant career or approaching retirement, the right protection structure can make a significant difference to your financial security and your family's future.
Broadbench Financial Advisers
Broadbench is a specialist financial advisory firm focused on business protection for medical professionals. We understand the unique financial challenges that consultant clinicians face — from the complexities of running a private practice through a limited company to the specific risks that threaten a clinical career.
Our advice is completely free to you. We are remunerated by the insurance providers when we place a policy, which means there are no fees, no charges, and no hidden costs at any stage of the process.
We use independent research tools and data-driven analysis to identify the strongest policies on the market for your specific circumstances — not just the cheapest. When it comes to protecting a clinical career, the quality of the policy matters far more than the price.
