The ONS tells us that in England and Wales specifically “the number of deaths remained above the five-year average in 18 out of 34 months from March 2020 to December 2022.
"When deaths due to Covid-19 were removed from the total; nine of the months in 2022 were above the five-year average."
ONS analysis also shows us that these ‘excess deaths’ were not confined to the old; its data reveals that excess deaths were as high as 15 per cent for women in their late thirties and late fifties.
They were also more than 10 per cent higher than usual for men in their early forties and almost 20 per cent above the long-term norm for men in the second half of their fifties.
The significance of dual cover today
In this respect then, life cover for mortgage debt is one of those rare instances where the benefits of the product are incontrovertibly in the interests of the consumer.
For most UK households, mortgage debt is the largest loan they will take out in their lifetime.
And if it becomes unaffordable, for instance, because the main breadwinner has died prematurely, the effect on surviving dependents’ lives can be catastrophic – financially, professionally, mentally, educationally, and more.
The notion of just insuring a single life in the family is, however, flawed.
In particular, the idea of men being the principal family breadwinner has changed radically in recent decades.
Ensuring both lives are covered by adequate insurance in today’s typical household is emphasised by that fact that almost three-quarters (73.9 per cent) of couple families had both parents in employment.
There is also greater equality in the amount of time that each parent works.
ONS data tells us that “from 2020, in families where both parents are employed, it has become more common for both parents to work full-time, rather than a man working full-time with a partner working part-time".
Insuring just one life in a couple is often substantially failing to cover the risk of premature death and its consequent financial impact.
The ‘mortgage cover gap’: financial impact and market potential
For the financial adviser, there will be market potential in customers with life cover to switch to another provider.
However, the big opportunity is among consumers who have not covered (or presently do not intend to cover) their mortgage debt.
There is a concomitant social gain, too.
For every additional household taking out life cover for their mortgage debt, potential human distress after a premature death is avoided, and society is relieved of the burden of state support for a survivor and family possibly falling into financial difficulties.
So, what proportion of the nation is not insuring householders’ lives, leaving surviving partners and/or families exposed to the risk of potentially losing the roof over their heads?
