A quarter of working adults without income protection would like to have it, according to financial resilience research from protection specialist LV=.

They are worried about how they would survive if they could not work due to illness or injury.

Nearly one in five said they would struggle to pay their mortgage or rent if they could not work for two months.

LV= asked 4,000 people about their attitudes to income protection to coincide with Income Protection Awareness Week. Only 15% of working adults had an income protection policy in place, while 12% had the cover provided by their employer.

Some 60% of 25-44-year-olds without protection said they would feel more financially resilient if they had a policy that paid out if they were unable to work due to illness or injury.

The research also revealed that many people do not have adequate savings if they are unable to work, leaving them vulnerable to financial shocks.

A quarter of working adults have less than £1,000 in savings or no savings at all while almost one in five would have to rely on their partner’s income to cover bills if they were unable to work.

Only half of workers would be able to survive for more than four months without an income.

Mike Farrell, protection sales director at LV=, said: “As the impact of the cost-of-living crisis deepens, people are becoming aware of their financial resilience and the value that income protection insurance brings. With energy bills and mortgage and rent payments rising, increasing numbers of people are worried about how they would pay their bills if an accident or illness prevented them working.”

He said income protection remains a flexible way to maintain a financial safety net if someone is unable to rely on cash savings.

LV= paid £13.6m in new and on-going income protection claims in 2021. The most commonly-claimed conditions were musculoskeletal issues (20%), fractures (20%) and cancer (17%), representing nearly 58% of all income protection claims.