Life assurance is not merely the sole province of the 'breadwinner', or the person who earns the largest salary. For a family with young children, the spouse providing the bulk of the childcare - often but not always the woman - performs a function that, in the event of their death, costs the family a great deal to replace with outside help.

A family that loses its stay-at-home mother may, for example, have to hire a full-time live-in nanny to provide the same sort of care, and will have to provide relief cover as well for evenings, weekends and holidays.

Spouses can arrange separate life assurance policies, but a more economical route could be to arrange joint life assurance cover, where the policy pays out if either spouse or partner dies during the term of the policy. Depending on the particular policy, the benefit may be paid out at the death of the first policyholder, or to a separate beneficiary upon the death of the second policyholder.