Dozens of soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan without taking out life insurance while thousands more have served active duty without cover, it has been revealed.
According to government figures more than 45,000 military personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq did so without any form of life insurance.
A further 32,000 personnel took part in operations in the two countries with less than the maximum cover available to them through the Ministry of Defence's arranged scheme.
The figures were obtained by Jim Murphy MP, Defence spokesman for Labour, through Parliamentary questions.
Under the current voluntary PAX life insurance scheme, soldiers are able to take out up to 15 units of cover paying £10,000 death benefit per unit and £4,000 critical illness benefit per unit.
Each unit costs just under £5 per month.
Although the government does provide lump sum payments up to £570,000 for wounded personnel, joining the PAX scheme is encouraged to help provide security for bereaved families.
According to the reply from the Secretary of State for Defence, 50 serving personnel were killed in Afghanistan without PAX or any other known of life insurance.
A combined 45,900 (35,600 in Afghanistan, 10,300 in Iraq) served without holding any cover and 32,800 (26,400 and 6,400 respectively) did not have the maximum 15 units of PAX cover.
A total of 64,400 (55,900 and 9,500 respectively) served with full PAX insurance coverage.
