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Northern families are the most practical in the UK when it comesto facing issues like death and serious illness, according toNorwich Union.

Research revealed that 87% of Northern couples with childrenhave life insurance to pay off their mortgage on the death of apartner compared to the national average of 79%. The mostunprotected region is the Midlands where only 73% of couples havelife insurance leaving families at risk of losing their home if apartner were to die.

The research also suggests that more families in the North coverthemselves against illness than anywhere else in the country. 40%of couples in the North have critical illness cover (which pays outa lump sum if a serious illness is diagnosed) compared to 25% inthe South.

Norwich Union commissioned the research among working mothersfollowing a rise in repayment mortgages, which do not haveessential life insurance built in. According to the Council ofMortgage Lenders around 68% of new mortgages are now on a repaymentbasis compared to 15% in 1992.

Willie Mowatt, head of protection at Norwich Union, commented:"Only 12% of women felt that their salary alone would cover themortgage and they would still have the worry about the security oftheir job. Our research also found that it is vital, as repaymentmortgages become more popular, that more people are not gamblingwith their homes."

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Full details are available by visiting the website onwww.norwich-union.co.uk or by calling 0800 015 2530.

Notes to Editors

1. 1 in 4 males and 1 in 6 females aged 30 will suffer a criticalillness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke before the age of65.*
2. 1 in 10 males and 1 in 33 females aged 30 will suffer a heartattack before they are 65.*
3. 1 in 10 males and 1 in 8 females aged 30 will contract cancerbefore they are 65.*
4. 1 in 21 males and 1 in 32 females aged 30 will have a strokebefore they are 65.*
5. Despite all this it is estimated that less than 12% of the UKworking population held critical illness policies during2000.*

• Fieldwork for research undertaken by Norwich Union took placeduring July 2001
• CGU plc and Norwich Union plc merged on 30 May 2000 to createCGNU plc, the UK’s largest insurance group and one of thetop-five insurers in Europe with substantial positions in othermarkets around the world, making it the world’s sixthlargest insurer based on gross worldwide premiums.
• CGNU’s principal business activities are long-termsavings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwidepremium income and retail investment sales from ongoing businessof over £27 billion and assets under management of more than £200billion (as at 30 June 2001)From October 2000, the combined lifeand pensions, general insurance and retail fund managementbusinesses in the UK operate under the Norwich Union brand, whilethe institutional investment business operates under the MorleyFund Management brand.
• Norwich Union’s news releases are available on thissite
• A selection of images are available from the CGNU Newscastsite at www.newscast.co.uk
• An ISDN facility is available for studio quality interviews.Call the press office on 08703 666873

* Source: GE Frankona – May 2001

For all life & pensions media enquiries 08703 66 68 73
For all other media enquiries 08703 66 68 68

Press office contacts:

James Evans
08703 66 68 78
07790 487105 Out of hours

Louise Goffee
08703 66 68 70
07810 057362 Out of hours