Just 6 per cent of the UK's working population are covered by group income protection, according to a roundtable report from industry body Group Risk Development (Grid).
This represents 1.77 million employees out of 28.98 million. In addition, the roundtable summary found that group income protection (GIP) could save the government around £4 billion per year.
Taking into consideration the Chancellor's recent announcement of an additional £4 billion in benefit cuts planned for October's spending review, Grid believes working with the protection industry to bridge the protection gap could provide required benefit savings without further cuts.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Grid, said: "We already know implementing GIP has significantly reduced the UK's protection gap. So surely it is in the government's interest to encourage more employers to invest in this benefit. There is certainly a strong argument for a reduction in national insurance (NI) as an incentive for offering a GIP scheme."




