Family Legal Protection

What is Family Legal Protection?

Seeking the help of a solicitor can be costly, fees and expenses can eat up quite a lot of money in a short space of time. 

While we would want life to go smoothly and never use the services of a solicitor–Family Legal Protection is designed to act as a buffer, so you get that extra bit of help should you need to go to court, or legally challenge something that happens to you.
 

So what does Family Legal Protection cover?

Family Legal Protection covers both you and any member of your family that lives with you. Everybody who is covered can seek legal advice using our 24-hour helpline, where lawyers can advise you on the best course of action.

 

The types of situations that you can use Family Legal Protection for are:

 

  • Employment disagreements                                                    

If you feel you’ve been treated badly at work, be it you’ve been dismissed and think your employer didn’t have grounds to do this. Or you felt you had no choice other than to quit your place of work due to being treated so badly.

Family Legal Protection could help you get the support you’d need to take action against your employer or ex-employer in a tribunal.

With Family Legal Protection you’re covered for fees and expenses up to £10,000 for employment disputes. But you would have to pay £250 upfront as an excess.

  • Broken contracts

Examples of this can range from buying something online, that isn’t up to scratch, to having a builder do some shoddy work on your house, and you wanting a refund–but please keep in mind Family Legal Protection can only cover renovation related work up to £4999.

In both cases Family Legal Protection could be used to help you recover what you’ve lost, in court, as long as the amount in dispute is more than £250. 

  • Personal injury

If you have been unfortunate to have been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, Family Legal Protection could help you recover compensation for your injuries.

You may have injured yourself at work, by slipping on a wet floor, because there wasn’t a sign to tell you that the floor had just been mopped. Or you were out shopping and tripped over a box of stock that was left out in the aisle.

If you wanted to pursue legal action, Family Legal Protection could help you do this by covering legal fees and expenses up to £50,000.

But please keep in mind if your claim is related to clinical or medical negligence, Family Legal Protection won’t apply, and you wouldn’t have cover for these types of claims.

  • Property Infringement, Property Damage and Property Sale & Purchase

Our homes are our places to retreat and relax after a long day. But unfortunately sometimes we might experience problems where we live.

Property related problems Family Legal Protection could cover are trespassing incidences on your home, and vandalism. It could even help you to recover the cost of damage done by a company or organisation, for example if your fence is left crooked after paving was dug up to lay new cables.

The damage done must be worth more than £250 to use Family Legal protection if you wanted to take your case to court. The level of cover provided is £50,000 for court fees and other legal expenses. But you have to pay £250 upfront as an excess.

  • Self-assessment tax returns

If you need an accountant to audit your self-assessment tax return, due to a request from HMRC, Family Legal Protection could cover the cost.

But if you’re self employed, a sole trader or are working as part of a business partnership, you won’t be able to use Family Legal Protection insurance.

  • Your legal defence

If you’re being taking to court for something that happened at work while you were an employee, Family Legal Protection could cover your legal defence and expenses up to £50,000.

But Family Legal Protection can’t cover every prosecution you face, for example if you’ve been caught driving without a licence.

  • Jury Service

If you need to take time off work for jury service, Family Legal Protection could help cover any wages you might lose for the time you’re away.

The amount Family Legal Protection could cover is your take-home pay, so whatever pay you receive after tax, National Insurance, and any other deductions.

The court might also pay you some money for your attendance, if they do, this will get taken into account and deducted from whatever Family Legal Protection compensates you for.

For full information on what Family Legal Protection does and doesn’t cover please take a look at our policy booklet.

 

Family Legal Protection insurance, is it worth it?

This is a very good question, but there is no straight forward answer to this, and it solely depends on if you think you would need it.

Every year you might pay for this cover, and never need legal help, or in your first year within six months, it saves you a small fortune in court fees.

 

Do I need to have Family Legal Protection when I buy home insurance?

Family Legal Protection insurance is an Optional Extra we offer our customers, if they want that extra level of cover so they can get in touch quickly with legal professionals if they need to.

 

Are there any other ways I can increase cover for my home?

Yes, we have a lot of optional Extras you can choose from to increase your cover.

Pest cover – if you want to protect your home against pest infestations, just add pest cover to your home insurance. This Optional Extra aims to cover exterminations up to £150 and for bedbugs up to £200.

Personal possessions cover – protect your belongings when you leave your house, if you’re always on your phone or tablet during the long commute, you might want to take a look at our personal possessions page.

If you want to add Family Legal Protection to your home insurance just call 0345 045 9000