This possibility is something that every family should have covered but it seems that more than 1.5 million families with children haven’t even considered the situation - and far more, 7 million, admit that they don’t have adequate life or critical illness cover.

This means that if the grim reaper came knocking, those families are likely to suffer severe financial hardship. In the worst case scenario the family might be unable to pay the mortgage and face repossession.

I know that the recession is putting strains on some family’s budgets but quite honestly, if you are under-insured you need to sort it out. At least get some life insurance which will payout in the event of death – the price of life cover is at an all time low so it’s a relative bargain. A 30 year old male, could get cover for £100,000 for 25 years for as little as £6.53 a month.

Even better, get some cover in case you become critically ill. Critical Illness policies cover the big three illnesses – cancer, stroke and heart attack – plus a wide range of other serious illnesses. These policies payout as soon as a diagnosis of an insured illness is confirmed. In many ways this type of cover is even more important that than life cover although you can buy both types of cover in a combined policy. Critical Illness cover is more expensive that pure life cover – because the chances of a payout are higher – which in many ways is confirmation of the importance of this type of cover.

So if you are one of the 1.5 million or indeed, one of the 7 million, for your family’s sake get it sorted!