Insurance: a necessity not a luxury

Ant and Dec, Britain's legendary TV duo, have recently been in the news for taking out life insurance. The deal is apparently set to cover one of them financially if the other dies, although the actual sum that would be received remains undisclosed. But while the ex-Byker Grove pairing are often as in touch with "the average Briton", this development is actually uncharacteristic of their countrymen, as polls show that a worryingly small number of people in the UK take out insurance.

In September 2006, Legal & General's Safety Uncovered Index found that, from a poll of 5000 people, nearly a quarter of British people cite yob culture as one of their main safety concerns; but only a small minority claim to be afraid of burglary, despite the fact that Britain is the most burgled country in Europe. This poll proves two things about our society today: firstly that, although official Home Office figures claim that crime is decreasing, people still feel that their safety is threatened. Yet, it also proves that people still undervalue the importance of insurance to safeguard their property and household possessions. In fact, in Britain, almost 8.5 million households either do not possess home contents insurance, or are underinsured. According to a survey by Abbey, three million British households do not possess home contents insurance, while a further 3.4 million are unaware of whether their policy covers the entire value of their belongings. It concluded that four in ten people do not check the small print in their home insurance documents, while 15% will not read the documents at all until they need to make a claim. Lloyd Wilson, head of protection marketing at Abbey, advises: "Home insurance documents might not make for the most interesting reading but people really do need to check they have sufficient cover in place as being underinsured can end up costing people lots of money."

Students are also being urged to take out possessions insurance; statistically, those aged 16-24 are three times more likely to be victims of burglary than any other demographic. Mark Till, marketing director for Barclays insurance who carried out the investigation, said: "Insurance is one of the absolute essentials for all students yet so many neglect to take it out. We all know that there are so many other things that will be keeping students busy in their first days at university. As a result many simply do not even think about contents insurance."

Travel insurance also enters this category: this summer, Sainsbury's Bank estimated that more than £4 billion worth of holidaymakers were uninsured, with 8% of British holidaymakers not planning to take out any insurance to cover their summer vacation. Robert O' May, Sainsbury's Bank's travel insurance manager, said: "Some 2.61 million people will risk losing a fortune this year by having no cover against a holiday calamity such as losing baggage, suffering an accident or injury and needing medical treatment or even having to cancel their trip altogether." In view of these worrying statistics, it is clear that the need for insurance is increasingly relevant in order to avoid dramatic monetary losses in the event of an unexpected or unplanned event.