Protection is an essential part of saving for children

Research from Lloyds Bank suggests while parents are prepared to pay a lot to buy a home in a good school catchment area - up to £41,000 extra - there can be problems if one or both of the breadwinners have lost their jobs or become unable to work.

Helen McCormick, adviser at Beaufort Asset Management, says the protection conversation needs to go even further: "Potential costs of raising children include schooling, further education, weddings, cars and house deposits.

"These should all be factored into expenditure calculations when looking at protection requirements. Cashflow planning can assist with this, as it provides the ability to model 'what if' scenarios."

Starting the conversation

Advisers unused to doing protection should start the conversation with checking what sick pay and/or employee benefits their clients would get from the employer.

Ms Thomson continues: "Then you should assess any savings, and how long the clients would be able to survive financially, looking at what might be at risk or have to be cut back on, including elements of their finances such as long-term investments."

Protecting the family means ensuring the continuation of income on premature death and during periods of ill health Alan Lakey

State benefits are often low and difficult to claim for, which would leave many people struggling financially if they could no longer work, explains Ms Thomson.

She adds: "Having income protection can relieve financial stress and leave people to focus on their health and their recovery, rather than how they would be able to keep their family's standard of living intact."

Alistair McQueen, savings expert for Aviva, comments: "Consumer champions Which? sum up the importance of IP on their website by saying: 'Income protection is the one protection policy every working adult in the UK should consider'.

"Many of us have insurance for all sorts of things but no insurance for our salary - which is where we get the money to pay for everything. As part of family financial planning, income protection should be considered."

He adds some employers may actually offer income protection to their employees either as a fully funded benefit or one staff can pay for, so again it is worth checking the client has this in place.

State benefits

The need to focus on protection is all the more important given incoming changes to government benefits.

For example, the government plans to make the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) benefit a loan from 2018, with a charge being taken on the owner’s property.

This means your clients would have to repay the amount the government paid into the mortgage either when they return to work or when they sell their home.