I too thought what BALPA could do for me & did'nt bother joining. Then one day i was in the !!!! with my old company & put on gardening leave & needed legal advice asap. BALPA were more than helpful dispite the fact i was not a member & with their help i got out of the mire. I then joined asap.
I then joined Debonair who went bust one month later, i was back in the provable regarding mortgage payments. Good old BALPA lent me £1000 interest free from their benevolant fund to help me, to pay back when i could afford too. Since then they have managed to get a further payout from the collapse of Debonair BALPA members only!