A leading insurer has warned that the decline in the property market also appears to be affecting the life insurance industry, which could result in a rise ni the number of people who are uninsured.

Tim Breedon, from Legal and General, linked the ongoing difficulties that people are facing either getting a new mortgage or even keeping up with existing payments has drastically cut the amount of cash people are putting aside to cover vital insurance needs.

Breedon pointed to a 13% drop in individual protection sales over the the first 9 months of this year and claimed that the only reason that the drop wasn't greater was the insurers “ingenuity”.

“We remain, at best, cautious about the economic outlook for the U.K.” Said Breedon. “We continued to exploit opportunities across our broad product offering, through increased focus on our wide range of non-mortgage-related products, including family protection and high sum assured business,” he added.