Four out of five (80%) protection policyholders are satisfied their policies meet their needs, according to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) landmark pure protection market study consumer research.
This was compared to just 34% of people without protection insurance who thought their protection needs were met.
The FCA study is based on a nationally representative survey of 14,326 UK consumers between September and October 2025 and is a key element of its review of the distribution of pure protection products.
Among policyholders the vast majority were largely satisfied, with 31% feeling their protection needs were fully met and 49% said they were mostly met.
Just 12% said they were only partly met while 2% thought they were not met at all and 6% were unsure.
Why unsatisfied customers do not review cover
The 14% of policyholders who thought their protection needs were only partly met or not at all, were asked why they had not made any changes to their policies.
The main reason (19%) was that they were satisfied with their current cover, even if it was not a perfect fit.
The next highest reason given was that other policies were too expensive (18%), while 17% said they had other priorities, 14% found it overwhelming, 13% were not sure what to do, 13% said they did not think it was worth the cost or effort to change their policy and 11% did not feel confident about making a change.
Reviewing protection needs
One in three (31%) of those who took part in the research had reviewed their protection needs in the last 12 month.
Of these, 21% said they had received professional support at the time of their last review from an IFA, financial adviser or wealth manager, 13% from a pension or insurance provider, 12% from a bank, building society or credit union and 9% from an insurance broker.
Around a third (34%) of policyholders and half (47%) of non-policyholders had never reviewed their protection needs.
Understanding protection policies
When it came to understanding their policies, 74% of people with critical illness cover said they fully or mostly understood their policy.
The number among those with income protection was slightly higher at 78%.
Around 66% of critical illness and income protection holders saw their policy as a necessity.
This compared to 72% of those with term insurance, 75% with whole of life and 75% of people with Over 50 plans.