Only a minority of UK residents have income protection cover, research by an insurance provider has revealed.

A survey by Zurich found that only 20 per cent of UK respondents currently have such cover, despite the fact as many as 42 per cent have experienced income loss in their working lives due to serious illness.

Zurich’s report comes as the welfare system faces austerity measures, following the expansion of the Government’s Work Capability Assessment programme. This will review the eligibility of a further 1.5 million people who are already receiving Incapacity Benefit.

The survey by Zurich also found that only 19 per cent of respondents currently have a good knowledge of income protection products and over a quarter said they would be willing to spend 5 per cent of their income on such cover.

Just under half of those who did not have Income Protection cover expected to rely on their savings should they be unable to work.

However, almost a quarter said their savings would only cover them for one month in such a scenario, while 21 per cent said they had enough money to last them three months if they were unable to work.

Some 56 per cent also said that they would be in favor of the government covering income loss in the event of illness and nearly half (47 per cent) said they would be willing to accept a better benefits package, including income protection benefits, rather than higher wages.

Zurich’s global life CEO Gary Shaughnessy called for the public to take more responsibility in light of the report’s findings.

He said: “The income protection gap is a growing challenge, for individuals and their families and society as a whole.

“For a family, we know that the impact of the main breadwinner not being able to work through illness or disability can be devastating with financial hardship resulting in the loss of the family home for those worst hit.

“As we witness a shift in the burden of responsibility from the state to individuals, people need to take more responsibility to protect themselves and those they love. As an industry, we have a duty to continue raising awareness and help people mitigate this growing risk.”