Recent research from MetLife UK has revealed that over half (52 per cent) of working parents have no form of financial protection.

This means should they find themselves needing to take time off work to look after their unwell child they will have no additional financial support.

The data highlighted that of the individuals without protection, 56 per cent were self-employed, 39 per cent had zero-hour contracts and 65 per cent worked part-time.

Should parents have to take time off due to childcare needs, this group are going to be the most likely to suffer financially by having no formal plan to fall back on during an emergency.

When analysing the perception and uptake of financial protection policies among the UK’s working parents, the researchers found that the main deterrents to having any financial protection in place included:

• Affordability concerns (44 per cent)
• A lack of awareness of these types of products (20 per cent)
• General disinterest in taking out insurance policies (nine per cent)

Whilst most working parents do not have the formal protection to cover their pay when they need to take leave to care for a sick/injured child, 48 per cent of them do have some form of protection. This ranges from life insurance to illness protection.

The top five products for financial protection, include:

• Life insurance
• Health insurance
• Critical illness cover
• Income protection
• Mortgage payment cover protection

If you don’t have any form of financial protection in place, or your current policies only cover a limited range of scenarios, our team can help you find the right insurance and protection policies for you and your family.