The scale of the situation surrounding the poor-performance of many endowment policies appears to be much worse than previously though, with new figures from the Association of British Insurers set to show that around 6 million policyholders will face a shortfall on their mortgage at the end of the endowment term.

The new figures mean that around two-thirds of all endowment holders now face the prospect of having to top up their payments in order to be able to pay off their mortgage. More accurately, the ABI say that 34% of the 10 million policyholders will soon be receiving letters telling them that there is virtually no chance that their current payments will be sufficient to meet the cost of their mortgage, while a further 26% will receive an amber warning - an indication that the endowment plan is currently behind schedule and may well need topping up in order to get the investment back on track.

A similar review carried out this time last year showed that the number of policyholders facing a shortfall was fewer than half, with just 15% receiving red warning letters. This surge in shortfalls is a sure sign that insufficient remedial action has been taken by insurers and policyholders in light of another year of poor performance on the stock markets.

Speaking to BBC News Online, Alan Leaman, the head of media and political affairs at the Association of British Insurers said: "What we are concerned about is that if people do receive one of these letters, firstly, they should not panic. And secondly, they should take appropriate action rather than shove it in the bottom drawer."

Mr Leaman went on to point out the steps that people could take to get out of the situation, including paying in additional money to their existing endowment, moving the remainder of their mortgage to a part-repayment mortgage, or starting another savings plan.