10.8 million UK households are at risk of their income falling by at least a third if the main earner stopped working due to ill health. To help raise awareness of the need to consider protection, Aviva and Friends Life have launched a joint campaign to help advisers demonstrate to clients just how important income protection cover is.
Aviva and Friends Life launch new income protection awareness campaign
10.8 million UK households are at risk of their income falling by at least a third if the main earner stopped working due to ill health1. To help raise awareness of the need to consider protection, Aviva and Friends Life have launched a joint campaign to help advisers demonstrate to clients just how important income protection cover is.
Income Protection Matters has at its heart a new online hub for advisers which will host engaging and regularly updated content. The site is designed to help advisers overcome objections and start conversations with clients. In addition, the hub will offer a range of useful tools and calculators, all in one place.
The awareness campaign will complement Aviva and Friends Life’s sponsorship of the 7 Families initiative, a charity-led project to show the value of income protection by paying families a tax-free income for one year.
Claims data from Aviva reveals both the risks of not having income protection cover in place to help replace a lost income, as well as the benefits for those who do. Over £12.5 million was paid out to individual income protection customers in 2014, with average monthly benefits paid being £1,015.
With the average length of claim on Aviva Income Protection policies being nine and a half years, this level of benefit would amount to more than £115,000 over that time.
Content on the Income Protection Matters hub includes data and tools that advisers can use with their clients to determine how long they could manage financially without their salary. And with 131 million days lost to sickness absence every year2, the reality is that it’s not just the odd day off that impacts people, with long-term absence a real possibility.
The campaign will also focus on the most common conditions that can affect a client’s inability to work. These include mental health conditions which in 2014 accounted for nearly a third (30%) of income protection claims paid out by Aviva, and orthopaedic conditions such as back pain which are the second most common cause for claim at 20%.
Other topics include the 7 Families campaign and back to work support, general health and well being and why renters need protection.
Louise Colley, Managing Director, Protection for Aviva says: “Making people aware of the real risk of not having any protection in place if they were to lose a main household income is an absolute priority. The figures are stark: the average UK household spends £1,503 a month3 and any Employment Support Allowance would only provide up to £125.05 a week. With the average saving pot being £1,7703, this would not provide financial security for very long if an income was lost through illness or injury.
“Our joint Aviva and Friends Life Income Protection Matters campaign has been designed to help advisers have important protection discussions with their clients about the reality of these risks; and to help them to work with their clients to determine the best income protection cover for their financial needs.”
The campaign hub is live and available at http://www.incomeprotectionmatters.co.uk/
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If you are a journalist and would like further information, please contact: Melissa Loughran, Aviva Press Office: 01904 452791: 07800 691947: Melissa.loughran@aviva.co.uk
Notes to editors:
1) Source: ABI Welfare Reform for the 21st Century.
2) Source: ONS – Sickness Absence in the Labour Market, February 2014.
3) Aviva Family Finances Report, December 2014.
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