Unum is challenging six UK bloggers to live on Employment Support Allowance (ESA) for one week to highlight the importance of workers protecting their income.
From today the bloggers will be surviving on the average payment for people on ESA of £95 and writing about the challenges of living on this amount.
ESA is the benefit for UK workers on long-term sick leave and replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support in 2008.
As COVER has previously reported, acceptance rates for the benefit are at just 18% overall, with 12% being expected to perform certain work-related activities and only 6% found severely disabled enough to be placed in the support group.
The Work Capability Assessment which is used to assess claimants' mental and physical abilities for work has also come in for severe criticism and is in the process of being adjusted.
Marco Forato, chief marketing officer at Unum, explained that many people do not realise the limitations of State support should they become too sick or injured to work.
"Whilst the majority of us believe that the State would support us if we were unable to work due to illness or injury, the reality is that the State benefit only pays around £5,000 a year for most people," he said.
"This is 80% less than average UK earnings of £26,500 per year, meaning a huge drop in income for the majority of UK workers, if they had to go on long-term sick leave.
"That's why we're working hard to raise awareness of the need for people to have a back-up plan in place.
"Income Protection from your employer can provide up to 80% of your salary - insuring the one thing that pays for everything else in your life," he added.
The bloggers undertaking the challenge are:
• Moneymagpie (personal finance);
• Vex in the City (beauty);
• Beauty and the Dirt (entertainment);
• Sarah Scribbles (lifestyle);
• That's Yummy Mummy (parenting);
• Average Joe.
