Majority of workers admit they’d struggle financially if they were unable to work

A new survey has revealed that as many as 67% of Brits admit they would struggle financially if they found themselves unable to work.

If affected by long-term sickness, 47% of workers said they’d have to go into savings to cover living costs, 44% would cut back on non-essential expenditure and a third said they would control their spending by shopping for lower-cost brands.

Of those surveyed, 40% said they would look to find money elsewhere, such as:

• Relying on state benefits (cited by 32%)
• Borrowing from friends or family (17%)
• Relying on someone else to pay the cost (17%)
• Taking out a bank loan (6%)

Commenting on its findings, Daren Boys, Protection Portfolio Distribution Director at Aviva, said, “Our research confirms that most people recognise that they’d struggle financially if they were unable to work due to ill health, however, there’s still a heavy reliance on savings or family members to cover their living costs.

“Income protection provides a much-needed safety net. However, Aviva’s research confirms that lack of awareness continues to be a key barrier to income protection sales.

“Although people are more likely to consider income protection when they buy a house, very few people would think about taking out an income protection policy when they move into a rental property.”

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