Debt risk forces young ill to work

According to Co-operative Insurance (CIS), 57 per cent of Britons aged between 25 and 34 do not have either the savings or the insurance in place to cover their essential spending if they were to lose their principal source of income.
This means that without savings or a debt management plan, they are liable to go into the red in a worst-case scenario.

“It can be hard to visualise a future where we are not as healthy as we are now, which is why many of us never get around to protecting ourselves fully,” said Fiona Jackson, head of protection at CIS.

She urged a debt management plan: “Forward planning is essential – if they don’t take time out to plan, then people run the real risk of having inadequate cover in place to protect both their individual and family needs.”
The study found that women are better at protecting their income than men. with more than a third using their first home purchase as a trigger to make provision for possible sickness or a serious illness in later life, compared to just 24 per cent of men.

“Many UK workers still believe that the state system will protect them sufficiently if they are prevented from working due to illness or injury, but it won’t,” warned James Harrison of online insurance comparison service Insurancewide.com.