Britain unprepared for rainy days

Britain is unprepared for emergency expenses

Cash-strapped Britons believe they don't have enough money saved to pay household bills if they were to lose their job.

In all, 81% of people said that they couldn't support themselves or their families if redundancy struck.

As for looking after an elderly relative, 91% of the 1,000 people surveyed by Birmingham Midshires said they couldn't afford to pay the costs of nursing care or a residential home place.

What's more, 86% said they wouldn't be able to fund their own treatment privately, if they fell ill.

This despite the view amongst many of those surveyed that they didn't want to rely solely on the NHS.

Financial cushion

Overall one Briton in five claimed not to be able to afford an emergency expense of any sort.

Leading the way in the financial insecurity stakes were people from East Anglia, where more than one-third said they didn't have enough rainy day savings.

People in the South West and the West Midlands also ranked high.

The happiest with their lot were people in the North West, where only 16% expressed worry about their savings.