According to not-for-profit insurer PG Mutual, millions of professional workers risk of depending solely on state sickness pay which will fail to cover all expenses if they fall sick.

The cost of sick pay to UK businesses has been widely reported on since the start of the recession, with the bill for long-term sickness leave within the private sector estimated at around £3.1bn per year in 2012.

Following this, many companies have been reviewing their sick pay entitlement for their staff, with twice as many organisations considering decreasing this over the next year as those planning to increase it.

This means that while the number of employees taking long-term sick leave seems to be increasing, the provision of sick pay from employers is set to decrease.

The research found that nearly 30% of people questioned had no idea what their employer would pay them if they had to take sick leave, and for how long.

There appeared to be an assumption that if they had a serious illness or an accident and had to take an extended period of time off work, their employer would continue to pay them at their current pay rate – however, this is not always the case, and is becoming less and less likely as companies look to save money in the current climate.

Over three quarters didn’t know what level of state sickness pay they would be entitled to – currently, it stands at just £86.70 per week.

The average UK household spends £484.00 per week on their outgoings – so this would barely be enough to cover most people’s rent or mortgage, let alone pay for fuel, food, utilities etc.

Mike Perry of PG Mutual said: “We have seen an increase in the number of people taking out income protection over the past year, but there still seems to be a misunderstanding of what it is and its importance. 

“The problem with having an accident or falling ill is that no one wants to think about it, but if it happens, it’s too late to get cover. There’s also a common misconception that if you have critical illness and life cover, you’ll be covered for this eventuality, however, they are in fact, completely different products.

“Ask yourself, if you weren’t able to work due to illness or injury, how much would your income drop by? How long could you survive on your savings? How will you support your family? Without income protection, you could find yourself falling into serious financial difficulty.”

It is estimated that the average person in the UK only has enough savings to live off for 19 days if they lost their income, but PG MUtual says that the number of people with personal income protection insurance plans is still worryingly low, especially for those under the age of 25.

Despite most UK adults having insurance in place for everything else, from their homes and cars to their iPhones and pets, little consideration seems to be given to how people would cover the cost of maintaining any of these things without a regular income.