New research from Scottish Widows shows nine in ten Brits in danger of financial hardship should serious illness strike.

• We’re more likely to insure our mobile phones than our health – 12% of UK adults have phone insurance but only 9% have critical illness cover
• Just 27% of the population have life insurance, a drop of 7 percentage points compared with last year
• Millions have no ‘Plan B’ – more than a fifth (21%) of households wouldn’t survive financially if they unexpectedly lost their main income

Brits are woefully under-protected should serious illness strike, according to new research from Scottish Widows. Despite more than a fifth (21%) of people admitting their household wouldn’t survive financially if they lost their income due to long-term illness, fewer than one in 10 (9%) have a critical illness policy. People are, in fact, more likely to insure their mobile phones (12%) than to protect their own health.

Taking out life insurance also appears to be falling down the population’s priority list, with just 27% having a life policy, equivalent to 14 million people. Worryingly, this has dropped by 7 percentage points compared with 2017, a year-on-year decrease of 3.6 million individuals.