With the end of the school summer holiday, you might be looking forward to life returning to normal. For many parents, the summer holidays are a logistical challenge between work and childcare, which means their child returning to school is something of a relief.
Yet one time you would probably want to spend as much time at home with your child is if they were diagnosed with a serious illness. Thinking about yourself having a serious illness is bad enough, but it can be much harder to contemplate your children having an unwanted medical condition.
If it were to happen though, it’s likely you would want to take as much time off work as you could to look after and support them. Yet this could have implications for your wealth, which in turn may result in financial pressure that forces you back to work at an already upsetting time for you, your child and your family.
Yet you may be able to protect your income, which could ensure that financially you could take as long as you need to while caring for your child. Better still, you could protect your income in a way that’s very cost effective. Read on to discover more.
Your employer does not have to pay you while you care for your child
It’s important to remember that your employer is not legally obliged to pay you while you care for your child. In many cases they may help, however it could be for a limited period of time, such as one, three or six months.
After this they could significantly reduce the amount they pay you, or it stop altogether. As a result, your financial security could be put at risk if you're then forced to live off savings or investments that you may have.
Furthermore, if you're unable to pay into your pension, it may have implications for your long-term financial welfare, and may mean your standard of living in retirement drops.
How can I protect my income if I do need to take time off to care for my child?
One way is to take financial protection for your children, which would typically provide a tax-free income while you look after them. What you may not realise though, is that many insurance providers often offer children's cover at no extra cost if you take Critical Illness Cover (CIC) out for yourself.
This type of protection pays a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a critical illness. While the illnesses covered can vary from policy to policy, cancer, heart attacks and strokes are normally covered.
The lump sum can then be used to pay for private treatment, which means you can return to work more quickly (something that's particularly important if you're self-employed). Alternatively, it could be used to alter your home if necessary, such as adding ramps or changing the bathroom, or you may want to use it to cover any loss of earnings while you recover.
The latter reduces the chances of you having to return to work before you're fully recovered due to financial pressure. For more information on the benefits of CIC and income protection, please read our informative blog. Alternatively, download our easy-to-understand guide.
However, some providers will also provide children's cover as part of the policy, something we will look at in more detail next.
What is children’s sickness cover and how does it work?
With CIC cover for your children, you can use the lump sum to cover the loss of income, meaning you wouldn't need to rely on your savings or to sell your investments. Like adult CIC, children's cover could also be used to pay for:
specialist equipment if your youngster needs it
provide private medical care so that they can receive treatment more quickly
cutting edge treatment that may not be available on the NHS.
Another important way the payment could be used, would be to cover travel or accommodation costs. This is because these costs could become substantial over time if your child needed to receive specialist care some distance away.
If you take out a CIC policy for yourself, the provider may include children's cover, which means they'll pay a percentage of the amount you're insured for if your son or daughter falls seriously ill. So for example, if your CIC policy pays 30% if your child is diagnosed with a serious illness and you're covered for £100,000, you'll receive £30.000.
As with adult CIC policies, different CIC providers will cover different illnesses, although your child will usually be covered for heart disease and cancer.
How could AFH Wealth Management help?
As you can see, financial protection could provide you with peace of mind that, whatever happens, you'll be able to deal with the financial consequences. That said, it's important to remember that the cover provided will depend on several different factors, including your age, health and profession.
Always speak to a financial adviser before deciding on financial protection, as they can ensure the policy you're considering is right for you, your family, and represents value for money. If you would like to discuss this further, please call us on 0333 010 008 or contact us to arrange a no obligation initial meeting with one of our independent financial advisers.
2 September 2026