Businesses let staff go early and there were numerous cancellations to trains, planes and whatever other mode of transport you travel by.

It’s winter, it snows and you’d think the government would have contingency plans in place to ensure the country doesn’t come to a complete standstill. Investing in more snow ploughs and grit might help especially when it’s estimated that snow costs the UK economy £11bn each year. But every year it snows it’s the same story.

With the extreme weather conditions forcing many people to take unscheduled days off work, people will be counting up the cost of lost earnings, especially for those who are self-employed. But what if being away from the workplace wasn’t just a short-term situation caused by the weather.

What if it was a prolonged time off work due to serious illness? How many people would have the right safeguards in place to ensure that they could still afford to pay the mortgage and the monthly bills?

No-one can predict a serious illness just as we can’t predict the weather. But there are measures that can be taken to ensure people are prepared for certain eventualities. This means looking at protection insurance – something that many people are loath to do.

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To get people to buy protection they first need to understand what it is and why it’s so important. Only then can they make an informed choice about what product is right for them. This is why professional advice is so important.

A few inches of snow can create unnecessary panic but being diagnosed with a serious illness is real cause for concern. Now might be a good time to contact clients and discuss their protection needs.

It will be unlikely we’ll get people talking about protection as much as they do about the weather but we might be another step closer to closing the protection gap.

Roger Edwards is managing director at Bright Grey & Scottish Provident