Travel insurance and sunscreen are not the only protection families should be considering when booking their summer holidays, warns leading UK insurer, PG Mutual.

The average British family will spend two whole months’ salary on their summer holiday ^ – but leading income protection providers, PG Mutual Health & Wellbeing, are asking how families would find this money should the main earner lose that income due to an unexpected illness or injury.

Despite many people still living on a restricted household budget, one in five people feel that a holiday abroad is a necessity rather than a luxury*, with 53% of people taking at least one holiday overseas in the past year.**

With money still tight for many, planning ahead is a key part of managing the cost of an annual break – budgeting for travel insurance, luggage cover and many other extras – and there are a range of payment options out there to assist families with spreading these costs. However, leading UK insurer, PG Mutual Health & Wellbeing, are encouraging families to consider the one eventuality many holiday makers seem to forget – the risk of losing the income you need to pay for your break if an unexpected illness or accident were to occur.

With holidays already around 145% more expensive during the school holidays, many UK families will have to stretch their budget to afford the holiday they want. Many may consider credit cards or instalment payments, using their monthly income to meet these payments. Some will still be continuing to pay off the cost of their holiday long after their tans have faded – but with no plan in place for managing debt repayments if the main household income was lost, the dream holiday could become a nightmare to pay off.

While travel insurance may provide medical cover should a person fall ill or be injured on your break, without income protection insurance, should this be a long-term illness or injury, the consequences can be more severe if they can’t go back to work. While some employers may have a sick pay policy in place, many do not – meaning that an accident abroad could end up seriously impacting a person’s ability to meet their household bills for some time to come.

PG Mutual Health & Wellbeing Chief Executive, Mike Perry, explains, “We know that this a key time for families planning their annual breaks, and that they have a lot of financial considerations in doing so – however, we see a number of people who have committed to a financial obligation such as credit card or holiday repayments who rely on our cover, and would not have been able to meet these obligations without it.”

“Whether you’re saving up to pay for a holiday for your family, or making repayment arrangements, no one ever likes to think about what would happen if you fell ill. But no holiday is worth leaving your family with serious financial difficulties, so we advise families to consider cover which would pay them a monthly amount in the event of illness or injury, and go some way to helping ensure they don’t end up missing repayments or having to use their savings to survive.”

For more information on income protection insurance from PG Mutual, visit www.pgmutual.co.uk or call 0800 146 307.

^Daily Mail, March 2014

*Daily Mail, October 2013

**ABTA.com, September 2014

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