91% of adults have reported their cost of living has increased compared with a year ago and almost three-quarters say that their cost of living has gone up in the last month. This according to the latest figures reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from a survey of nearly 5000 households in Great Britain conducted during September 2022.

Struggling to make ends meet is not an entirely new concept for many of us, but as an expensive autumn and winter threatens, it seems more and more of us are seeking strategies to help us fight to keep our heads above the choppy financial waters. Money matters can no longer take a back seat to work and parenting, and we’re being forced to more closely inspect and evaluate our financial situations - what’s incoming versus the impact of rising outgoings - and we’re all having to make some tough decisions!

Whether it is shelving your daily perks at the coffee shop, switching supermarkets, waving goodbye to a long-forgotten gym membership, cancelling a well-loved (but surplus to requirement) subscription – or sadly much worse, we’re making changes to weather the storm in an attempt to improve the everyday outlook.

Still, for some people the brutality of the consequences of change, or making the wrong decision is further intensifying financial vulnerability.

Bereaved Claire Henaughan, 33 from Cannock, Staffordshire recently told her story in The Mirror. She’s told of how fearful of the future she is as she has become the sole earner and provider for her daughter Abbigale, who is just 8 years old.

Following the sudden death of her husband Luke, who died last month at the young age of 34, Claire says she’s terrified. Sadly, Luke – who Claire met aged 15 and married in 2019 – didn’t have life insurance. This has left her worrying about how she’ll cope to look after her daughter and take care of the bills ahead of the bleak financial predictions for winter, as well as dealing with her grief.

Claire told The Mirror, “Never think you are too young to have a disaster – tragedy can happen at any age. Somehow, I now have to keep this house warm…I just can’t see how I’m going to do it… as well as how we’ll manage, we hadn’t saved for a funeral, so somehow, I have to find money for that.”

Data and analysis from the 2021 Census and from the ONS suggest that around 7,000 children born each year will go on to experience the death of their mother before the age of 16 years in England and Wales – and it is estimated that the number of children who, like Abbigale, lose a father by this age could be around twice as high as the number who lose a mother.

As a parent, it’s hard to think about the possibility of dying before your children grow up. But the fact is, according to The Child Bereavement Network, that every 22 minutes in the UK a parent dies leaving behind reliant children.

That’s why they believe in the importance of parents making plans in case they die while their children are still young. Practical tasks, such as making a will, planning guardianship, and having life insurance can take some of the uncertainty out of life after a parental death – and it could soften the blow financially, which seems even more relevant when the immediate future is looking financially fraught.

The future cannot be predicted, but with the benefit of hindsight, Claire, now terrified how she’ll cope to support Abbigale, sums it up, “pick up the phone and get life insurance… don’t put it off… don’t believe you have tomorrow because you might not!”

If you’d like to discuss the options available to you to help you plan to protect your family’s future and give you peace of mind, we can help you - contact an Essential Insurance advisor today on 0800 612 8005.