Individual protection sales continued to recover in the third quarter of 2024, slightly outpacing the same period last year for the second consecutive period.
The two periods of slight increases appear to show resilience in the market following four consecutive quarters of steep falls beginning in Q2 2023.
However, the data from Gen Re shows cumulative sales across the first nine months of the year remain below last year’s total after the sharp drop from January to March.
According to the reinsurer’s figures, 503,387 individual protection policies were sold from July to September, 817 more than the 502,570 in the same three months last year.
That followed an uptick of 1,283 from April to June which arrested the previous year-long slump.
Overall, the market remains around 2.5% down with 39,348 fewer sales having been completed in the year to the end of September.
The total of 1,505,965 sales was below the 1,545,313 and 1,594,238 completions during the same periods of 2023 and 2022 respectively.
The value of policies sold also recovered to almost match the same period in 2023, being worth £192m compared to £193m on an annual premium equivalent (APE) basis.
However, the full year total of £575m is also 2.5% down on the £590m value at the same point last year.
IP up, life down
The growth in income protection (IP) market continued through the quarter with sales up 7% on an APE basis compared to the same period in 2023, while whole of life plans rose too, although more modestly.
In contrast, term assurance sales fell by 6% and critical illness by 3% on the same measurements.
