For those not immediately familiar with this topic, this link will take readers to a blog last year that outlines the very real financial dangers that most working households are exposed to should an income earner be forced into a prolonged period of absence from work through illness or injury. The statistics speak for themselves, and are rather chastening.
So it is a real shame that no political party formally recognised this as a problem worthy of inclusion in their electoral promises. However, this may change over the term of the next administration, and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is working to accelerate this debate.
The ABI has set out the priorities that the next government should look at here:
- Clear expectations: to ensure that working households know how much support they can expect from the state if they become too ill to work
- Simple income protection/welfare interaction: so that private and state support works to produce a net benefit for those with this protection
- The employer role: incentivising or mandating a role for employers in the provision of income protection for employees
- Personal responsibility: motivate and facilitate personal responsibility for adequate income safety nets