More than half of mortgage holders (5.2 million) across the country would be financially vulnerable in case of an unexpected illness, new research from Royal London shows.
The mutual life and pensions company found that 52 per cent of the people having mortgages and earning an income do not have a plan in case they fall too ill and cannot work for three or more months.
While there are many (34 per cent of survey respondents) who have no plan but have considered the possibility of falling ill, another large proportion of people (18 per cent) had not even given it a thought. And this is despite the fact that 2.5 million of mortgage holders who earn an income and have no provisions for illness know somebody who had struggled to keep up with their repayments because they were ill.
A large number of working mortgage holders are also not prepared to answer the question of long they would be able to sustain financially in case of illness, Royal London found. Half the respondents said they expect to be able to support themselves for six months or less, while over a quarter (26 per cent) said they were not sure.
More than a third of those polled (36 per cent) would turn to family and friends for support in case of an unexpected illness. However, 11 per cent, which equates to around 1.1 million people have said they would not know whom to turn to.
The survey for Royal London was conducted by YouGov among 2,208 UK adults.
