Renters are being warned of a “toxic cocktail” of rising rents and gaps in housing benefit.

A report by insurer Royal London, called Renters at Risk, has found a surge in the number of working people who would be at risk of being unable to meet their rent in the event that they lost their wage through unemployment or sickness.

Although unemployment has stayed relatively low since the Brexit vote, Royal London claims renters are at risk as they are less likely to have income protection unlike those with a mortgage and so may struggle if they lose their job.

The research, based on detailed analysis of the Government’s Family Resources Survey, found 5.5m working adults would not qualify for full housing benefit if they were to lose their job. This figure has more than doubled in a decade from around 2m at risk in 2003/04.

The report estimates that 3m adults who rent a home based on two wages could struggle to sustain the rent on one wage but would not be eligible for housing benefit to cover the rental shortfall.

Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, said: “This report shows that the benefits system would not meet the rent of the majority of working renters.

“Unless they are able to resume paid work quickly, 5.5m working renters would be at risk of not being able to pay the rent and having to move to cheaper accommodation, if they could find it.

“More needs to be done to help families living in rented accommodation to think through the implications of the very limited State safety net on which they might be relying.”

The research follows a report by housing charity Shelter that found one in three working families in England could not afford to pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job. This was attributed to a lack of personal savings.