Nearly half of parents with dependent children are concerned about developing a serious illness but are still more likely to buy protection for bricks and mortar, phones and pets than insure their family against a loss of income due to their ill health, research from Aviva shows.
- 76% of parents have no financial plan for dealing with lost income due to ill health
- Yet 43% of parents are concerned that they or a member of their family could develop a serious illness
- Parents are more likely to insure their pet (24%), phone (23%) and home contents (75%) than have income protection (13%) for themselves or their partner
- Nearly half (45%) of parents with dependent children could not support their lifestyle for a month if the main breadwinner was unable to work
- More than one in four families (27%) have experienced losing an income due to ill health, serious illness or death of a long term partner
Nearly half of parents with dependent children1 are concerned about developing a serious illness but are still more likely to buy protection for bricks and mortar, phones and pets than insure their family against a loss of income due to their ill health, research from Aviva shows.
Aviva’s Protecting Our Families report reveals nearly half (43%) of UK parents are concerned that they or a member of their family could develop a serious illness or condition, making this their second greatest fear after the rising cost of daily necessities (45%).
But three quarters (76%) of parents have no financial plan in place for dealing with a lost income due to ill health and 68% have no plan for dealing with the death of either themselves or their partner.
Parents are much more likely to insure the family pet (24%), mobile phone (23%) or the contents of their home (75%) or building (65%) than have private health insurance/dental cover (22%) or protection for ill health, such as critical illness cover (18%) and income protection cover (13%). Uptake of life insurance amongst parents is 46%.
Nearly half (45%) of UK families with dependent children1 could only survive financially for less than a month before their savings ran out if the main breadwinner was unable to work due to serious illness or death2.
More than one in four UK families (27%) say they have actually dealt with the reality of a loss of income due to ill health, serious illness or the death of a long term partner, with the experience leaving one in five (20%) thinking they will never recover financially again, or have no idea how long it will take.
Despite the harsh realities of facing a health crisis, many families would be ill-equipped to cope due to a lack of planning and available funds. 18% of parents with dependent children say they could not reduce their monthly spending at all and nearly one in four families (24%) have no savings to fall back on whatsoever.
Paul Brencher, Managing Director, Individual Protection, Aviva UK said:
“With the pressures of modern living it’s very easy for parents to get side-tracked into only dealing with immediate challenges and problems, such as putting food on the table, and protecting material possessions. While these are all important, it is also essential that parents consider the long-term impact for their family if they were to fall seriously ill.
“We want to encourage parents, particularly those with dependent children, to consider how they would protect their family if the worst happened. This means considering all of their financial assets and commitments and ensuring they have put the necessary plans and protection in place, just in case they do face this situation at some point in their lives. Making small financial sacrifices now could ensure they are financially resilient for the future.”
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Enquiries:
Aviva Press Office: Olly Douglas (01904 723532 | olly.douglas@aviva.com) or Monique Crockett (01904 684128 | Monique.crockett@aviva.com)
An Aviva spokesperson is available for comment/broadcast interview
Methodology
The ‘Protecting Our Families’ study was designed by Aviva in collaboration with ICM Unlimited and Instinctif Partners. All findings quoted, unless otherwise referenced, are from research carried out independently by ICM during Q4 2016 among a representative sample of 2,500 UK adults, of which 1,593 were parents with dependent children including 435 who have experienced loss of income due to ill health, serious illness or death within the family.
Technical notes:
- A median is described as the numeric value separating the upper half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. Thus for this report, the median is the person who is the utter middle of a sample. All figures are medians unless otherwise specified and are referred to as ‘typical’ rather than ‘average’ (mean).
- A mean is a single value that is derived by adding all the values on a list together and then dividing by the number of items on said list. This can be skewed by particularly high or low values.
References
1 Families with dependent children are classed in this release as those with children (aged under 18 or 18 and above but mostly financially dependent on their parents), including two-parent families who are married or cohabiting along with divorced, separated or widowed parents.
2 Without making any changes to their current lifestyle.
Notes to editors:
- Aviva provides life insurance, general insurance, health insurance and asset management to 33 million customers.
- In the UK we are the leading insurer serving one in every four households and have strong businesses in selected markets in Europe, Asia and Canada. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE100 index.
- Aviva’s asset management business, Aviva Investors, provides asset management services to both Aviva and external clients, and currently manages over £340 billion in assets. Total group assets under management at Aviva group are £450 billion.
- Aviva helps people save for the future and manage the risks of everyday life; we paid out £34.4 billion in benefits and claims in 2016.
- By serving our customers well, we are building a business which is strong and sustainable, which our people are proud to work for, and which makes a positive contribution to society.
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