New research by Norwich Union, the UK’s largest insurer, has shown that: One in six dads, when asked how much it would cost to replace mum in money terms, said less than £5,000 a year! Four out of ten dads do not know that Mother’s Day falls in March. Most mums feel undervalued and think that dad doesn’t live in the real world, believing he does more around the house than he actually does. Just under a half of mums don’t have any life cover at all to protect their family in the event that something happens to them. Dads would, therefore, be in for a big financial shock if mum was no longer there.
New research by Norwich Union, the UK’s largest insurer, has shown that:
- One in six dads, when asked how much it would cost to replace mum in money terms, said less than Ł5,000 a year!
- Four out of ten dads do not know that Mother’s Day falls in March.
- Most mums feel undervalued and think that dad doesn’t live in the real world, believing he does more around the house than he actually does.
- Just under a half of mums don’t have any life cover at all to protect their family in the event that something happens to them. Dads would, therefore, be in for a big financial shock if mum was no longer there.
(Full details of the research are shown in the notes to editors below.)
Very often, the only life cover people have is for their mortgage. Parents often don’t think through the consequences for their families, of one of them no longer being there to do all the jobs that are currently taken for granted.
The cost of replacing a mum can be hugely expensive. For example, on top of childcare costs, there are costs relating to laundry, cooking, washing up and cleaning the house.
However, 49% of mums told Norwich Union they don’t have any life cover at all. But life premiums needn’t be expensive. And they have fallen by around 25% over the past 5 years.
The cost of Ł100,000 of level term assurance cover over 25 years with Norwich Union for a female non-smoker, aged 30 next birthday is currently Ł6.20 a month. The same quote based on an age of 40 next birthday is Ł13.30 a month. (Source – Moneyfacts (February 2002).)
Commenting, Ian Beggs, spokesman for Norwich Union, said: "Our research clearly shows that mums are not only undervalued but massively underinsured.
"The cost of employing someone else to do all the things that mum does is frighteningly expensive. That’s why it’s a surprise that nearly a half of mums say they don’t have any life cover at all. This could potentially be disastrous for some families.”
Notes to editors
The research was carried out using a sample of 1,016 adults between 15 and 21 February 2002.
The key findings were:
What dad would expect to pay to replace mum
- The actual value of a mum has recently been calculated at Ł40,000 a year on average, by the Office of National Statistics.
- When Norwich Union asked dads how much they thought it would cost per year to replace a mum in money terms, 16% said less than Ł5,000 a year!
- 18% said between Ł5,000 and Ł10,000 a year.
- 26% said between Ł10,000 and Ł30,000 a year.
- 3% said between Ł30,000 and Ł50,000 a year.
- Only 1% of dads put the value of a mum at more than Ł50,000 a year.
- 49% of mums say they don’t have any life cover at all.
When is Mothers Day?
- 73% of adults correctly identified that Mothers Day falls in March (84% of mums, but only 61% of dads).
- One in ten dads think that Mothers Day falls between April and June.
- Married dads are more likely to get this right; 76% of married dads were right, compared to 67% of single dads.
Mums working patterns
- 61% of mums work either full time (40%) or part time (21%).
When children are ill
- Of working parents, mums are far more likely to be the ones who end up taking time off work to look after children if they are ill and cannot attend school/nursery. 47% of mums say that if their children were ill they’d take time off to look after them. Only 17% of dads say that they would.
- 19% of mums say that if their children are ill, they will be able to make alternative arrangements to have them looked after. However, only 7% of dads say this is the case. This suggests it is mums who will largely take responsibility for making decisions about alternative childcare arrangements in the event of illness.
Jobs that mums mainly do
- The following proportion of mums say that the following jobs are mainly done by them:
- Doing the ironing – 75%
- Doing the washing – 73%
- Cooking the evening meal – 70%
- Looking after children – 53%
- Grocery shopping – 51%
- Managing the family’s finances – 49%
- Putting out the rubbish bins – 45%
- Washing the car – 35%
- Mowing the lawn – 34%
- In some cases, dads agreed; the following proportion of dads said that the following household chores are ‘mainly women’s jobs’ in their view:-
- Ironing – 54%
- Doing the washing – 46%
- Cooking the evening meal – 39%
- Grocery shopping – 35%
- Looking after the children – 33%
It is interesting to see that the percentages are much higher from the mums themselves!
Jobs that dads say they mainly do (and mums doubt)
- The following proportion of dads say that the following jobs are mainly done by them:-
- Mowing the lawn – 50%
- Washing the car – 49%
- Putting out the rubbish bins – 34%
- Managing the family finances – 25%
- In addition, the following proportion of dads say that the following jobs, in practice, are either done by them or are shared broadly equally with mum:-
- Washing the car – 93%
- Putting out the rubbish bins – 87%
- Mowing the lawn – 88%
- Looking after the family finances – 78%
- Looking after the children – 59%
- Grocery shopping – 57%
- Cooking the evening meal – 52%
Where mums disagree with dads
- 52% of dads say that cooking the evening meal is either done by dad, or is shared broadly equally with mum. Not true say mums! 70% of mums say that the evening meal is mainly cooked by them in their household.
- 93% of dads say that washing the car is something that they either do themselves, or mum and dad will each do. Not true say mums! 35% of mums say that they end up doing it all the time.
- 87% of dads say that putting out the bins is something that either dad would normally do, or that mum or dad would each do. Not true say mums! 45% of mums say this is something they always end up doing.
- 16% of dads said that when their children are ill, both mum and dad will consider taking time off. Only 8% of mums say that this happens.
- 88% of dads say that mowing the lawn is something that they either do themselves, or mum and dad both do from time to time. Not true say mums! 34% of mums say that they end up doing it all the time.
- 78% of dads say that managing the family’s finances is something that either dad would normally sort out, or that both mum or dad would be involved in together. Not true say mums! 49% of mums say they’re in charge of money issues.
Regional differences
Percentage of dads who correctly identified that mothers day is in March
| England | 62% |
| Scotland | 60% |
| Wales | 50% |
| Highest | South East (75%) |
| Lowest | Greater London (36%) |
Percentage of dads who would expect to pay less than Ł5,000 a year to replace mum
| Wales | 20% |
| England | 16% |
| Scotland | 13% |
The regions where the greatest proportion of dads said they would expect to pay less than Ł5,000 to replace mum in money terms was Greater London (25%), with the next highest being East Midlands (23%).
The regions where the least proportion of dads said less than Ł5,000 was the South West (8%) and the East Midlands (10%).
The area where most dads said that they would expect it to cost over Ł50,000 a year to replace mum was the East Midlands (7%).
Percentage of mums who would expect to pay less than Ł5,000 to replace dad
| Scotland | 13% |
| Wales | 9% |
| England | 4% |
The areas where most mums said less than Ł5,000 a year was the North West (12%).
In all of the following areas, there weren’t any mums who said that they would expect to pay less than Ł5,000 to replace dad - North, Yorkshire & Humberside, West Midlands, East Anglia, South West and Greater London.
The area where most mums said over Ł50,000 a year is Greater London (10%).
Proportion of mums who say they have no life cover
| England | 53% |
| Scotland | 50% |
| Wales | 47% |
In terms of regions, the area where most women said they did not have life cover is East Anglia (62%).
The lowest was Yorkshire & Humberside and the South East (both 46%).
Jobs that mums say they end up doing
Ironing
| Scotland | 86% |
| England | 75% |
| Wales | 65% |
| Highest region | East Midlands (93%) |
| Lowest region | East Anglia (60)% |
Cooking evening meal
| Scotland | 80% |
| England | 69% |
| Wales | 48% |
| Highest region | East Midlands and Scotland (both 80%) |
| Lowest region | East Anglia (52%) |
Doing the washing
| Scotland | 85% |
| England | 72% |
| Wales | 62% |
| Highest region | East Midlands (88%) |
| Lowest region | East Anglia (54%) |
Managing the family's finances
| Scotland | 53% |
| England | 49% |
| Wales | 39% |
| Highest | West Midlands (57%) |
| Lowest | South West (33%) |
- Norwich Union is the UK’s largest insurer. It is the UK’s largest provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the leading IFA providers. IFAs provide around 75% of the company’s long-term savings business.
- Norwich Union has strategic alliances with over 20 building societies and other leading UK brand names including Tesco Personal Finance Limited and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
- Norwich Union can only advise on its own products.
- Norwich Union’s news releases are available on this internet site
- A selection of images is available from the CGNU Newscast site at www.newscast.co.uk
- An ISDN facility is available for studio quality interviews. Call the press office on 08703 66 68 73
For all life & pensions media enquiries 08703 66 68 73
For all other media enquiries 08703 66 68 68
Press office contacts:
Ian Beggs, Norwich Union 08703 66 68 71
Out of hours 07790 487533
Louise Goffee, Norwich Union 08703 66 68 70
Out of hours 07810 057362