UK Homeowners Overlook Financial Protection

New research from LifeSearch and HomeOwners Alliance exposes a significant and widespread gap in how UK homeowners manage their financial resilience – from reviewing protection cover to understanding their own mortgage, savings and workplace benefits position.

The financial blind spots

The insights highlight how rarely homeowners take stock of their wider financial position. In the last 12 months, almost nine in ten (86%) homeowners have not reviewed their mortgage statement and understood their remaining balance. Eight in ten (78%) have not calculated how many months of expenses they could cover from emergency savings, and nine in ten (91%) have never discussed with a partner or family member what would happen financially if one of them couldn't work.

Furthermore, six in 10 (63%) of homeowners have not reviewed their household budget in the last year. The picture is equally stark when it comes to the building blocks of financial protection. The research found that in the last year:

• 84% of homeowners have not read through their insurance policy documents to understand what they're covered for
• 94% have not checked what financial protection they have through their employer – such as sick pay, death in service or group income protection
• 89% have not checked the beneficiaries listed on their life insurance or pension
• 87% have not made or updated a will
• 90% have not sought financial advice from a professional adviser

Protection reviews: life events drive decisions

The research from LifeSearch and HomeOwners Alliance found that four in ten (40%) homeowners who have, or have considered, protection have never reviewed it. Among those with cover, nearly one in three (33%) have never reassessed it.

The most common prompt for doing so is buying or remortgaging a home – cited by one in five (18%) – suggesting that for many, protection decisions are made once and left untouched, rather than revisited as circumstances change. A change in relationship or family situation (13%) or a significant shift in financial commitments such as childcare costs or receiving a large sum of money (12%) are other key triggers, rising to 25% and 27% respectively among the under-35s.

While only 5% of all homeowners who have or previously considered protection cited advertising or media coverage as a prompt to review protection, this figure rises to 14% among younger homeowners – suggesting communications have greater cut-through with an audience that remains underserved.

Debbie Kennedy, CEO of protection specialist LifeSearch, said: "These figures point to more than a protection gap, they reveal a wider financial engagement gap. Too many homeowners are going years without reviewing their cover, checking their savings position, or even understanding their mortgage balance – let alone having a proper conversation with their partner about what happens if one of them couldn’t work. Life changes fast, and financial resilience needs to keep pace.

"For me, the most important takeaway is how simple the starting point can be. One conversation with an adviser – someone who looks at the whole financial picture, not just one product – can begin to close many of these gaps.

“No one should be finding out what their financial safety net really looks like for the first time at the moment they really need it."

Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance, said: "Most homeowners are juggling busy lives, balancing work, family and rising bills, so it’s no surprise that reviewing finances slips down the list. But when you own a home, staying on top of your finances is vital.

"For many people, their home is their biggest asset, so the stakes are too high to simply hope you have the right cover in place if your income suddenly stops. Taking time to understand your safety net and what support you’d have in place isn’t just sensible, it’s essential to keeping your home secure in today’s uncertain economic climate."

HomeOwners Alliance partnered with LifeSearch in January 2025 to help more people access and purchase protection products. HomeOwners Alliance visitors benefit from access to a dedicated team of protection specialists who guide them through the process of securing protection, from personalised needs assessments to claims support.

LifeSearch is one of the UK's leading protection advice specialists, blending technology with expert human advice. Since 1998, it has helped over one million people, families and businesses secure 1.7 million policies through its team of 280 specialist advisers. LifeSearch has innovated by embedding protection into wider conversations, reaching consumers in underserved markets to support its ambition to protect people properly.