"Unable to work due to sickness or injury"....I fit that criteria. I have been off for 9 months.....this is not classified as a short term illness. There is no definition of "long term" and no exclusions as to what defines "sick" or "injured".

I work for UNUM and have also been declined income protection despite my GP signing me off. Sadly it seems that unless you are likely to be off work for life or until death, they don't want to know. By my own admission, my illness was likely to stabilise, at which time I wanted to return to work, but no, not good enough, if it can stabilise, be cured or you're not a walking corpse, they don't pay out. I have learnt the hard way. Working for them for nearly 3 years, telling customers how easy it is to claim.. ..yet the truth is, my sick pay ended in July, and I got my rejection for income protection in December. Yes, 5 months, without pay, to be told NO!!! I'm in debt and my condition has worsened because of them!!! Worse still, as Unum is the policy holder, I have no right to appeal!! It's just great working for UNUM as our income protection benefit is the highest value going. ...only we can't claim it and if we try to appeal, we're not allowed. Bit like a "this is what you could've had" prize!!

Oh and even better, when I asked HR how I could appeal.. ..I was told "as Unum is the policy holder, you do not have the right to appeal"....fabulous!! They then followed up with if I wanted to write a report and add some evidence etc, HR could appeal on my behalf... ..They have me 3 days to submit ghat report. Now, I'm too poorly to do simple daily chores, let alone write reports, so I threw together the simple facts in an email and sent it off, HR have passed it onto the claims department and I await their decision, which is pretty obviously going to be a no! It is beyond me how they WILL NOT accept a GP certificate to pay out Income Protection to their own employee, but will accept it for general day to day sickness. Contradictory?! If the GP says I'm sick, then I'm sick, or at least that's how I pitch it to the poor unsuspecting customer who actually thinks they are getting a "back up plan".. ..oh no, Unum's famous motto isn't exactly reliable!!