Britons are financially unprepared to deal with the impact of having a 'mundane' accident requiring a lengthy recovery period, MetLife UK has warned.
According to the insurance provider, which commissioned researcher Censuswide to canvass 3,021 UK adults, only 7 per cent of respondents had accident or sickness cover to provide support should they end up tripping, falling or slipping.
These everyday mishaps have a strong financial implication, MetLife found, with Brits needing at least £1,200 in readily accessible savings if they had to take time off work to recover from breaks or serious sprains.
However, 15 per cent would need £1,500 or more just to make ends meet.
And yet, in research carried out alongside this among 500 UK financial advisers who do advise on protection, 35 per cent of respondents said their clients were only interested in financial protection "once it’s too late and they need to make a claim".
Almost a third - 31 per cent - of advisers also admitted their clients only see benefits of traditional products like mortgage and life cover.
For Rich Horner, head of individual protection at MetLife UK, Britons need to have the importance of protection really pushed home.
He said: “People don’t always think they need financial protection, or that life insurance does enough to protect their families. But we want to help people say yes to living, rather than only protecting themselves for dying.
"Our latest research shows that people really do need support protecting their every day. Accidents are frequent, but those mishaps can have a significant financial impact."
The likelihood of having an "everyday accident" is high, the study found. Some 56 per cent of UK adults have been injured in what the insurer branded an "everyday misfortune", while 32 per cent have had serious injuries just from tripping or falling down.
Tripping / falling over | 32% |
Road traffic accident | 22% |
Sporting activity (e.g running, football, horse riding etc) | 19% |
Falling down the stairs | 13% |
Fall from a height (e.g a ladder) | 10% |
Handling, lifting or carrying heavy items | 10% |
Cooking | 8% |
Gardening | 6% |
Walking the dog | 6% |
Using / working with machinery | 5% |
Source: MetLife UK
A further 52 per cent admitted they would need financial support if they had to take time off work due to an accident - as not all workplaces provide financial support or health insurance for employees.
Even where workplaces have some form of life insurance in place, MetLife warned this would not be useful to people needing a long recovery time from sickness or accident.
The research found: "Encouragingly, 62 per cent have some form of financial protection in place, but for the vast majority this means life insurance or similar rather than cover that will protect people from incidents that happen every day.
"Indeed, only 7 per cent have personal injury cover and the same percentage have accident and sickness cover that provides financial support covering a range of injuries from broken bones to those that could have significant impact on their everyday life."
This comes as Protection Guru, the InsurTech and technical information service for protection advisers, announced that MetLife has joined the platform, providing key insights and data for protection advisers which will be shared as part of Protection Guru’s Daily Insights service.
