Accident, Sickness and Unemployment Insurance is designed to help pay your financial commitments in the case of injury, ill-health or unemployment. The resulting loss of income due to any of these circumstances is likely to cause severe financial hardship, making it difficult to keep up payments on mortgages, loans and credit cards.
There are nearly 1.5 million people receiving Incapacity Benefit from the government; on average £85 a week. Do you think you could afford to maintain your financial commitments on less than £350 a month?
There are a number of additional reasons why such a policy is worth considering.
Accidents
Every day:
- Nearly 100 people were killed or sustained severe injuries in car accidents*
- Nearly 50 employees were injured at work, needing at least 3 days sick leave **
- Over 460 people suffered injuries at home, requiring a hospital stay ***
If any of these accidents happened to you, you could be left unable to work for along period of time. Whilst you may be covered for a limited amount of time by your employer, ASU insurance could help for at least a year.
* Office for National Statistics: Fatal and Serious Road Accidents
** Health & Safety Commission: Health & Safety Statistics: 2000/01
*** Office for National Statistics. 2000 Mortality Statistics
Ill-health
If you are in good health, you could find it hard to imagine being affected by a major or critical illness. However, if you take out any type of loan, it would be wise to consider some form of payment protection in case the unthinkable happens.
Statistics show that:
- Someone suffers a heart attack every four minutes*
- One in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime, with nearly 750 new cases reported in the UK every day **
* British Heart Foundation
** Cancer Research UK
Unemployment
According to Government statistics, over 2,000 people were made redundant in the UK every day in 2002/03. There were approximately 1.5 million people claiming unemployment benefit during that period. An income protection policy could have helped many of these people through a financially difficult time.
Levels of Borrowing
Figures from the Bank of England demonstrate that the British are relying on credit more than ever before. Between us, we owe almost £1,000 billion on mortgages, loans and credit cards. It is essential to know that you can afford to meet the repayments on your own debts if you find that you are unable to work.
Lack of Savings
According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, around 50% of the UK population has less than £600 savings and 25% of the UK is more than £200 in debt. This lack of savings could cause severe financial hardship in the event of ill-health, accident or redundancy.
