THE ODDS
It can happen to you!
Will an unexpected illness or accident stop you from working for weeks, months or longer?
No one really knows – but here are some facts:
- Every year around 330,000 people move from work to receiving the State’s main health related benefit – Employment and Support Allowance or ESA.*
- Two thirds of them are men and two thirds are under 50, so this is not just an issue for older people.*
- Around 650,000 people a year claim ESA.* More are claiming older State benefits, which are being phased out in favour of ESA.
- Only around a fifth of sickness absence is actually work related.*
- The main causes of long term sickness absence, based on ESA claimants* are:
Musculoskeletal (backs, knees etc) - 41%
Mental health and stress - 26%
Long term condition - 20% Other - 10%
Don’t know - 3%
It probably won’t happen to you. And, if it does, it probably won’t be as bad as it has been for many people. But, that’s two ‘probablies’. And 'probablies’ aren’t certainties.
That’s why you need insurance. Insurance is there to help you and your family cope if things don’t turn out as you’d like or had planned. Income Protection has been doing it now for over 100 years and helped millions of people – but remains unknown to too many people. We want to change that.
*These stats come from the Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence report by Dame Carol Black and David Frost CBE. Click here to read the full 112 page report.
Ask yourself these 5 questions
We could tell you all about how people don’t think it will happen to them and how little the average person has in savings but instead, ask yourself these five simple questions:
- What’s my net take home pay in a typical month?
- What’s the absolute minimum I could get by on each month?
- How long would my employer guarantee to pay me full salary if I couldn’t work because of illness or disability?
- What savings do I have (and add on anything that you could and would want to sell easily)?
- How long would that last based on 1 or 2?
Worried by your answer to question 5? Don’t be – you’re probably just like most other people. But, you can do something about it and find out about Income Protection now. You don’t have to buy it – but we think everyone should be aware of it, and how much it would actually cost (most people think it costs more than it does). Then you can decide whether to buy Income Protection. It’s your choice.