Of those over 50s that don’t have home contents insurance, 13% say it is specifically because they do not trust providers.

Simon Stanney, general insurance director at SunLife, said it is shocking that some over 50s are going without cover because they don’t trust the insurance companies, and this needs to be addressed.

He said: “It is worrying that as many as a quarter of over 50s don’t trust insurance companies and that some people are putting their homes at risk as a result.

“As an industry we need to be doing everything we can to make the process straightforward and affordable for our customers.”

“At SunLife we have chosen our insurance partners carefully to ensure they have capable customer centric claims operations and we monitor service levels on behalf of our policyholders to ensure any issues are addressed.”

SunLife’s research also found that of those over 50s without cover, 27% say it is because the of the cost – specifically because it is too expensive (17%) or that the cost of premiums outweigh the risk (17%), while 23% say they don’t have enough contents to justify having cover. A fifth say they ‘don’t know’ why they don’t have contents insurance.

Stanney says the over 50s are taking a big risk by not insuring their possessions: “Despite the recent flooding – estimated to have caused up to £1.3billion worth of damage – almost one in ten of those aged over 50 are putting their homes and possessions at risk by not having contents insurance.

“The latest figures from the ABI shows that the average flood contents claim £50,000; while contents insurance is not compulsory you have got to think to yourself – if you didn’t have cover, could you afford to replace everything in your home if the worst happened?

“Of the most common reason over 50s have given for not having home insurance is cost (27%), but when you consider the average home’s contents is worth £55,000, and the average contents insurance policy costs just £603, is it really worth the risk?”