Yes, you can get life insurance if you’re self-employed.  As you work for yourself, you may have less occupational benefits than people employed through a company – like company sick leave, Statutory Sick Pay and ‘Death-in-Service’ Benefit. Life insurance can offer a financial lifeline to your family in the event of your death, or if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.

While it’s not a legal requirement, having life insurance can be beneficial – especially if you’re self-employed and not receiving the luxury of occupational benefits. Lots of employers offer a life assurance policy or ‘death-in-service’ benefit, but this isn’t applicable if you’re self-employed.

Being self-employed has lots of advantages, but it can mean you have less protections and benefits that come from being an employee at an organisation. Being self-employed might also mean you have unpredictable finances, so you may be considering forms of self-employed income protection. Life insurance can provide reassurance that your loved ones are taken care of in the case of your death.

No, unlike some other expenses, life insurance isn’t tax deductible if you’re self-employed. On the other hand, payouts from life insurance aren't subject to income tax.

Life insurance policies for self-employed individuals are the same as regular life insurance policies. They aim to provide reassurance that your family are protected  and that they’ll be financially supported should the worst occur.

Everyone lives different lives – so your life insurance policy should be personal to you too. Depending on your situation and what you value most, you can choose cover that suits you and your family.

From decreasing life insurance, designed to protect a repayment mortgage, to Life Insurance, here’s how you can select the right protection for you:

First, you need to decide on the amount of cover you need. This is often based on income. If you’re stuck, consider big things that will need to be taken care of – like the mortgage. Simply put, it’s the amount your family might need to be able to pay on-going expenses after you’re gone.

Use the Sainsbury’s Money life insurance calculator for a better idea of the cover you require.

Next, you need to decide on your policy length. This may depend on your age, mortgage repayments and how long you plan to be self-employed. Depending on your age, you could decide to get cover for up to 50 years, or for the rest of your life. Or you may decide a shorter term, in line with mortgage repayments or if your employment situation has potential to change.

Life can throw curveballs. So, you may also consider additional add ons to your life insurance if you’re self employed. For an extra cost you may decide to add critical illness cover in the event you suffer from a condition covered by the policy. Or accidental death benefit in case you die as a result of an accident while your application is being processed.