POLL: Is uncertainty over your job leaving you fearful about covering your rent?
More than five million working rental sector tenants are at risk of being unable to cover their housing costs if they lost their wage, a report estimates.
The research, authored by Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, warned the growth of the rental sector in recent years, combined with possible post-EU referendum rises in unemployment, could create a 'toxic cocktail' for tenants who may find they are not eligible for housing benefit or that it may not fully cover their rent.
The report found a steep rise across the UK in the number of working people who would potentially be at risk of being unable to meet their rent if they lost their wage through unemployment or sickness.
Based on analysis of the Government's Family Resources Survey, the report published by Royal London found that in 2013-14, 5.5 million working adults would not qualify for full housing benefit if they lost their job.
The number at risk represents nearly three-quarters of all working renters. The figure has more than doubled in a decade from around two million estimated to be at risk in 2003-04.
It said the growth in renters at risk if they lost their income reflects the combined effects of a general increase in the number of private renters, previous increases in employment levels and a series of cuts to generous housing benefit.
A report from Shelter found working families in England are so 'stretched to breaking point' that one in three could not afford to pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job.
Rising house prices have left many people facing the prospect of renting for longer.
Mr Webb, who is now director of policy at Royal London, said: "Renting has gone from being a transitional phase that younger people do before buying to something that more couples and families do for the longer term."
