Temporary Total Disability (TTD) — Weekly Benefits & Duration
What temporary total disability is, how a personal accident policy's weekly benefit is worked out from its benefit schedule, what a waiting period and a maximum period do to the amount, and why other income does not normally reduce it.
What temporary total disability is
Temporary total disability (TTD) is a period after an accident during which the insured is wholly unable to work but is expected to recover. A fractured leg that keeps a person off work for some weeks is an example. Total describes the inability to work during the period; temporary says it will end.
Not every personal accident policy has this benefit. Where a policy includes it, the benefit is a fixed weekly amount for the weeks of disablement, supported by medical certificates.
The four terms in the schedule
Four terms decide what is paid: the weekly rate, any rupee cap on it, any waiting days and the maximum number of weeks. All four are product features stated in the policy's benefit schedule. None of them is a regulatory rule.
As an illustration only, a policy might pay 1% of the sum insured per week for up to 100 weeks after a 7-day waiting period. Another policy may use a different rate, a rupee cap, a different maximum or no waiting period at all.
The waiting period and the maximum period
A waiting period, also called an elimination period, is the first days of disablement for which no benefit is paid. The weekly benefit starts only after those days. Whether there is such a period, and how long it is, are stated in the policy.
The maximum period works at the other end. The benefit is paid for no more than the stated number of weeks, even if the disablement lasts longer. Payment also stops earlier if the insured returns to work.
A fixed benefit, not lost pay
The weekly amount is a benefit, not an indemnity for lost earnings. It is payable whatever the insured earns, unless the policy says otherwise. An insured who continues to receive salary while disabled is still paid the full weekly benefit where the policy has no term reducing it.
A policy can provide for a reduction, so the wording has to be checked. Where it is silent, other income makes no difference to the amount.
Rules at a glance
Salary and the weekly benefit together
Illustration: Kavita, an accountant, breaks her wrist and ankle in a fall and is certified wholly unable to work for some weeks. Her employer continues to pay her salary. Her individual personal accident policy pays a fixed weekly benefit for temporary total disability and says nothing about other income. The weekly benefit is payable in full alongside the salary, because it is a fixed benefit and the policy has no term reducing it.
Weekly benefit under an assumed schedule
- Assumptions of the example: the benefit schedule pays 1% of the sum insured per week for temporary total disability. The other terms are stated case by case. All of them are illustrative; each policy sets its own.
- Case A, the weekly amount: sum insured ₹20,00,000, no rupee cap. Weekly benefit = 1% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹20,000.
- Case B, a waiting period: sum insured ₹30,00,000, no rupee cap, a 7-day waiting period. Weekly benefit = 1% of ₹30,00,000 = ₹30,000. The insured is totally disabled for 21 weeks in all, counting the waiting period. The first 7 days are one week, so payable weeks = 21 − 1 = 20. Benefit = ₹30,000 × 20 = ₹6,00,000.
- Case C, the maximum period: sum insured ₹10,00,000, no waiting period, a maximum of 100 weeks. Weekly benefit = 1% of ₹10,00,000 = ₹10,000. The insured is disabled for 120 weeks, but only 100 are payable. Benefit = ₹10,000 × 100 = ₹10,00,000.
- Case D, a rupee cap: sum insured ₹20,00,000 and a cap of ₹15,000 a week. 1% of ₹20,00,000 = ₹20,000, which is above the cap, so the weekly benefit is ₹15,000.
Result. The same 1% rate gives ₹20,000 a week in Case A, ₹6,00,000 in all in Case B, ₹10,00,000 in all in Case C and ₹15,000 a week in Case D, because the other schedule terms differ.
Key points
- Temporary total disability is a period after an accident when the insured is wholly unable to work but expected to recover.
- Where a policy includes the benefit, it pays a fixed weekly amount for the weeks of disablement, supported by medical certificates.
- The weekly rate, any rupee cap, any waiting days and the maximum number of weeks are stated in the policy's benefit schedule.
- No benefit is paid for the days of a waiting period, and none beyond the maximum period.
- The benefit is payable whatever the insured earns, unless the policy says otherwise.
Common misunderstandings
- A rate such as 1% of the sum insured a week is not an IRDAI rule: the rate, any cap, the waiting days and the maximum weeks are set by each policy's benefit schedule.
- The benefit does not run for as long as the disability lasts: it stops at the maximum number of weeks the policy states.
- Continuing salary does not cancel the benefit: it is a fixed amount, payable whatever the insured earns, unless the policy provides for a reduction.
Questions people ask
Does every personal accident policy pay a weekly benefit?
No. The temporary total disability benefit is paid only where the policy includes it.
When does the weekly benefit stop?
When the insured returns to work, or when the maximum period stated in the policy ends, whichever comes first.
What this lesson relies on
- The policy wording and benefit schedule of the product concerned (temporary total disability benefit: weekly rate, cap, waiting days and maximum period)
This lesson was reviewed independently against these sources on 8 October 2026. Rules change: check the current regulation, scheme document or policy wording before relying on any figure. This is education, not advice.