Workers could survive just four weeks without pay

A new survey claims that Britain’s workers are walking a financial tightrope with little provision to make ends meet should they be given the sack or are made redundant. 
 

According to a new survey by Unum, a financial protection provider, workers in the UK could survive for just four weeks without full pay.  For 5.5 million or 21% of workers the news makes for even grimmer reading with the researchers finding that they have no financial back-up in place at all.
 

A quarter (25%) of the 1,095 workers polled would have to rely on their partner to support them and 24% on their family.
 

Unum’s research shows that almost half of all UK workers have been off work for more than a week due to illness or injury at some point in their career and approximately two million workers currently in employment have had to take off six months or more.
 

Marco Forato, Unum’s chief marketing officer, said: “It’s really quite concerning to see that so many people are living on a knife edge when it comes to financial protection. A month is a very short time in reality if you suddenly find yourself unable to work. Yet our research shows that too many people seem to be either unaware that they can take steps to protect themselves against an unpredictable event that can lead to the loss of their full income for a long period of time or are burying their heads in the sand and adopting an attitude of ‘it won’t happen to me’.
 

On a regional basis, Unum’s research reveals that workers living in Wales and the North East are potentially the most exposed with 32% and 24%, respectively, admitting to having no financial security net should they be unable to work. Those in the South East and Scotland seem the best prepared, with only 17% and 16% of workers living in these areas, respectively, having no back-up plan.
 

Only just over one in 10 workers has any form of financial protection cover, 44% say that they can rely on their own savings.