Around 56% of people could not identify what spending they could cut back on if they could not work due to illness or injury.
According to a survey of around 2,000 adults from income protection provider Cirencester Friendly, only 44% could identify areas where they could cut back on their spending, with the most popular areas being eating out, takeaways and TV subscription services.
Other areas to curb spending included buying new clothes, gym memberships, smoking and drinking.
Around 3% said they would have to cut back on heating first, which the firm said showed “how little room for manoeuvre some people have”.
Another 3% said they would cut back on holidays, possibly showing that a “regular break has become perceived as a necessity rather than a luxury”.
The report also noted that around 27% have had a month or more off due to illness or injury, making the number who could not identify areas to curb spending more worrying.
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Alan Waddington, Cirencester Friendly’s distribution director, said: “It is worrying that so many people can’t identify anything they could cut back on if they couldn’t work for a month. It illustrates a significant number of families have no financial safety net to fall back on.
“Providing affordable income protection to cover the basics to ensure a few weeks of illness or injury doesn’t leave families with long-term debts is becoming more and more important.”
He continued: “The same survey found that more than half of respondents would be interested in an affordable product that paid an income if they were unable to work due to illness or injury, rising to 74% among 18-34-year-olds.
“This shows the demand is there, especially amongst younger workers. As an industry, we need to work hard to make that vital protection more accessible to them.”
