UK employees are leaving themselves woefully unprotected financially in the event
they are unable to work according to financial protection provider Unum.
The research carried out by Unum found on average UK workers could survive just four weeks without full pay.
An alarming 21 per cent of UK workers, equivalent to 5.5 million adults, admitted to having no financial safety net in place at all, whether it was savings or an insurance policy, such as income protection, life insurance or even the ability to rely on their partner or family.
The research carried out by Unum also showed 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 2million workers currently in employment have had to take off six months or more.
On average most workers would expect to receive full pay from their employer for four weeks if they are unable to work if they have suffered from an injury or illness, however Unums research shows that this is quite different as one in ten of those who have been off work sick for more than a week did not receive full pay for any part of their absence.
Marco Forato, chief marketing officer at Unum said: it was concerning to see people living on a knife edge when it came to financial protection. A month is a very short time in reality if you suddenly find yourself unable to work.
Our research showed 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 will never happen to me.