10-second summary:
Personal accident cover pays out for accidents only and usually for a short time. Income protection pays out if you can’t work due to illness or injury and can replace your income for years. They’re not interchangeable, and one offers far stronger protection.
People often ask whether income protection and personal accident cover are basically the same thing.
They’re not.
They solve different problems, they pay out in different situations, and that difference only becomes obvious when something goes wrong.
What personal accident cover does
Personal accident cover pays out if you have an accident that stops you working.
That word “accident” is doing some heavy lifting.
If you’re injured in a way the policy defines as an accident and you can’t do your job, the insurer pays a fixed weekly or monthly benefit.
If you get sick, develop a condition over time, or can’t work due to illness rather than trauma, personal accident won’t pay out.
What income protection does instead
Income protection replaces a portion of your income if you can’t work due to:
- Illness
- Injury
- Disability
It doesn’t matter whether the problem came from an accident or not.
If you’re medically unable to do your job after the deferred period, income protection pays a monthly income and keeps paying until you recover, reach the policy end age, or retire.
That’s why it’s considered the gold standard of salary protection.
Does your job affect the cost?
This is where the two products really diverge.
Personal accident cover usually costs the same regardless of what you do for a living, as long as your occupation is insurable.
Income protection is priced based on your occupation class.
If you work in a manual or physical job, you’ll pay more than someone in a desk-based role.
That higher price reflects higher risk, but it also reflects much better cover.
How much income can you insure?
With personal accident cover, the maximum benefit is usually capped at €400 per week.
That’s €20,800 per year, regardless of how much you earn.
With income protection, you can insure up to 75% of your income, subject to insurer limits, currently up to around €262,500 per year.
That makes income protection relevant for replacing a real salary, not just providing a short-term safety net.
Is personal accident cover cheaper?
Yes — and there’s a reason for that.
A 45-year-old could buy €400 per week personal accident cover for around €40 per month.
Income protection costs more because it covers far more scenarios and can pay out for years, not months.
Cheap doesn’t mean better. It just means narrower.
You can get an income protection quote here.
How quickly does each policy pay out?
Personal accident cover can pay out quickly once the insurer accepts that you’re unable to work due to an accident.
Income protection works differently.
You choose a deferred period, and if you’re still unable to work after that time, once your claim is accpeted, the policy starts paying.
How long do payments last?
Personal accident cover typically pays for up to 52 weeks.
After that, it stops — even if you’re still unable to work.
Income protection can keep paying right up to age 70.
So which one actually makes sense?
Personal accident cover can make sense if you want basic, accident-only cover and understand its limits.
Income protection makes sense if your income matters to your lifestyle and you want cover for illness as well as injury.
A quick note for people taking out a mortgage
If you’re arranging a mortgage, personal accident cover can sometimes make sense as an add-on, even if you already have or plan to have income protection.
One important thing people often miss:
If personal accident cover is added to a mortgage policy, any payout goes directly to you — not the lender.
Even though the underlying mortgage protection policy is assigned to the bank, personal accident cover is paid to your own bank account.
That means if you had an accident and were out of work for a few weeks or months, the payout could help you keep up with repayments, cover bills, or take pressure off while you recover.
It doesn’t replace income protection, and it won’t help with illness — but as short-term accident cover alongside a mortgage, it can be a sensible extra if you’re worried about a temporary loss of income.
Final word
If you can get income protection at a sensible cost, it’s almost always the better option.
If income protection isn’t available, or the premiums genuinely don’t stack up, personal accident cover combined with serious illness cover can be a fallback.
But if you have the choice, income protection is the one that actually protects your income.
If you want help working out what’s realistic for your job, income, and budget, start with our short questionnaire or book a call back here.
Thanks for reading,
Nick
Written by Nick McGowan, QFA RPA APA
Nick is a qualified financial advisor and founder of Lion.ie, an independent Irish life insurance and income protection brokerage based in Tullamore.
He’s been helping people get fair, transparent cover for over 15 years and was named Protection Broker of the Year 2022.
If you’d like straight answers without the sales pitch, learn more about Nick here.
Editor’s note: First published in 2017. Fully rebuilt in 2026 to reflect current Irish insurer practice and real claims behaviour.