Homeowners reportedly reducing protection to cut costs

July 22, 2026 by Brendan O'Neill

Surveys and Statistics

New research has found that homeowners are reducing or ditching mortgage protection in an attempt to cope with rising living costs.

This is the finding of a survey that was carried out by MetLife UK. The company spoke to mortgage advisors to find out how their clients feel about protection. In response, over three quarters stated that the number of clients who had reduced or scrapped their protection policies during the past year had risen. A total of 77% of advisors reported that to be the case.

Out of those, 52% said that they had experienced a small rise in the number of clients taking this course of action. Meanwhile, 25% said that the number cutting or abandoning protection policies had risen by a lot.

It is not because homeowners are unaware of the importance of protection though. 75% of the advisors who took part in the survey said that clients had shown greater concern over the issue than a year ago. 22% stated that clients were a lot more worried about it, while 53% said that they were a bit more worried.

The primary reason appears to be the need to keep monthly expenses under control. For a mortgage holder, not getting insurance to cover potential income loss is a major risk.

Phil Jeynes from MetLife UK told Mortgage Soup:

“We understand that families are making difficult choices about where their money goes, and that protection has to compete with many other household priorities.”

Advisors with the CeMAP qualification are needed to make the importance of protection absolutely clear.