New job, new employer or self-employment: which insurance records should you review?

Sorted recommends reviewing cover when circumstances change. For a work move, organise dates as well as benefit amounts: the last day of an employer contribution can differ from the date an individual policy ends or a new scheme accepts you.

Ask HR or the scheme insurer for your current membership and benefit records while you still have access. Keep the new employer’s offer separate from confirmation that you and any family members are enrolled.

Request the continuation options, health terms and deadlines from your own scheme. Southern Cross’s current changing-employer page, for example, asks members to contact it within 30 days of leaving to discuss eligibility to retain qualifying cover. This is that insurer’s instruction, not a deadline for all schemes or a promise of continuation.

Confirm each family member’s position and future premium contribution. Do not assume a new employer scheme preserves the same health terms or that an existing individual policy should be cancelled.

Put your current personal policy documents beside a short record of the old and new work: employed or contracting, main duties, hours, variable pay and expected income. Ask the insurer which changes must be notified under your terms and how income evidence would be assessed. Do not replace an earnings definition with turnover or assume a title describes all your duties.

Retain appropriate payslips, contracts and accounts through a secure channel. Ask which period and figures are required rather than sending every available document. Use the separate benefit comparison to identify questions about income protection and mortgage repayment cover; this checklist does not recalculate your insured amount.

ACC’s current guidance identifies standard CoverPlus and optional CoverPlus Extra for self-employed people and contractors. They use different bases for compensation. Confirm your own cover and earnings position with ACC, especially while employment status or income is changing; a private insurance policy does not confirm your ACC settings.

Gather the records ACC and your private insurer each request, keeping their questions separate. ACC’s published self-employed options concern accident-related inability to work; do not treat them as general illness income cover. This guide recommends neither an ACC option nor a tax arrangement, and does not estimate levies or compensation.

A person preparing to leave employment starts a timeline for their employer health scheme, personal income policy and planned contracting work. They request continuation terms, describe the proposed duties and ask ACC to confirm their recorded cover. Unknown dates and amounts stay on the questions list; the scenario assigns no acceptance, savings or claim result.

This illustrative scenario combines common questions and has no corresponding real client. Actual decisions and outcomes depend on individual circumstances, policy wording, underwriting and the insurer’s decision. No premium, medical or claim outcome is assigned.

This is general information. Personal advice requires current written disclosure and an individual assessment. FMA cautions that replacing policies can lose benefits; check accepted terms and dates before cancelling existing cover. Do not send detailed health, identity, financial or policy documents through the website form. Agree a secure sharing method first.

Will my personal insurance end when I leave a job? Do not assume it will, or that every work benefit continues. Separate personally owned policies from employer arrangements and confirm each one.

Does a new employer’s offer mean I am covered from day one? An offer is not acceptance. Ask for enrolment, start date and terms for each person.

Must every work change be notified? Check your actual policy and ask the insurer. This guide does not invent a universal notification rule or deadline.

Will ACC and private insurance use the same income figure? Do not assume so. Ask each organisation which definitions, periods, records and adjustments apply to your situation.