If the company skips a payment, the unpaid amount is not lost. It builds up as dividends in arrears, and the company must pay all of it to the preferred holders before it can pay anything to common shareholders. With a non-cumulative dividend, a skipped payment is simply gone.
The feature protects preferred investors and makes the security more like a debt. For the company, accumulated arrears are a reason to restore payments, and they are subtracted from income available to common holders when EPS is calculated, even if the board has not declared them, under US accounting rules for cumulative preferred.
Terms differ, and some preferred shares give holders extra rights, such as electing directors, if dividends go unpaid for a set time.
Check whether the dividend is cumulative, whether there are arrears, and what rights arise if payments are missed.