Deferred period

The waiting time between stopping work and the first income protection payment.

Chosen at application, the deferred period is how long you must be continuously unable to work before the monthly benefit starts — commonly from four weeks to a year. A longer deferred period cuts the premium because the insurer never pays for shorter absences, so the right choice is mechanical: match it to the point where your employer sick pay and committed savings would run out. You must be unable to work for the whole period, so a phased return can interact with it in ways worth checking in the policy wording.