Effective promotion of added value services is key to improving consumer awareness of income protection.
This is according to Emma Thomson, head of protection development at Sesame Bankhall Group (pictured), who spoke to Health & Protection for our latest analysis in which she called on the industry to acknowledge the historically low take up of income protection.
Findings from the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Lives Survey 2022 released in July found just 6.1% of 19,000 respondents were covered by income protection.
“Promoting the added value services available is key,” Thomson explained. “Because it’s not just a cost-of-living crisis we are all facing, we are also living with a very stretched NHS.
“These services, available on many IP policies, can be so helpful to those needing to access medical advice and support that could help.”
But Thomson added it would also be beneficial if policies could be more flexible as people’s circumstances change.
“We’ve seen improvements in this area in recent years,” she continued. “But more needs to be done such as allowing a limited benefit IP plan to be changed into one that would pay until retirement once the policyholder is in a financial position to increase their premium outgoings.”
