The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is leading groups from across the financial services industry to increase consumer take-up of protection, particularly focusing on those disproportionately unprotected.
The regulator highlighted several approaches with public sector and industry partners as part of its pure protection market study final report and said it expects meaningful progress over the next 12 to 18 months.
This includes working with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), Protection Distributors Group (PDG) and Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI).
As part of this action, it has laid out ground rules for the participants including governance, funding and engagement approaches.
It also encouraged distributors to collect and share data on where consumers were first prompted so it can monitor prompt effectiveness of the initiatives.
Furthermore, the regulator is exploring other significant options to prompt people about protection insurance.
PDG
The FCA has asked the PDG to lead the market’s key stakeholders in developing a market‑wide initiative aimed at addressing weak consumer engagement with and understanding of protection.
The FCA said it “expect[s] the market to work together with the PDG to develop a sustained programme of work rather than a one‑off marketing campaign, with its future development informed by evidence of consumer engagement, understanding and outcomes”.
It should seek to engage all relevant consumer segments, with particular focus on groups that are under‑engaged by existing market routes, including renters, the self‑employed and gig‑economy workers.
Its purpose should be to enable consumers to better reduce their financial vulnerability.
The FCA added: “Robust governance will be essential.”
The PDG intends to establish arrangements including an executive group to develop and deliver the programme and an oversight board to provide strategic direction, accountability and challenge. Both groups will be selected from across the industry.
“We consider this a sensible approach, which will give the initiative the legitimacy, accountability and decision‑making capability needed to move from industry support in principle to sustained delivery in practice,” the FCA continued.
“Market participants and other relevant stakeholders should engage constructively with the initiative, provide appropriate resource, financial support and active and collaborative participation.
“Funding arrangements should be agreed as an early priority and should be equitable, proportionate and sufficient to support the professional development, launch, governance, measurement and sustained delivery of an effective engagement programme.
“We expect relevant firms and industry bodies to participate in and work through the governance structure that PDG will establish, and to agree those arrangements at pace.”
AMI
AMI will lead a cross‑industry initiative to strengthen adviser engagement with protection.
“Given AMI’s engagement across the mortgage and insurance intermediary market, and insight from its annual Viewpoint research into adviser and consumer attitudes, it has an appropriate platform to coordinate practical support for advisers,” the FCA said.
“AMI will help shape a consistent industry approach that supports advisers in understanding, discussing and recommending protection solutions more effectively.
“This includes improving awareness of the value and relevance of protection products, increasing adviser confidence in discussing protection with clients and encouraging more frequent and consistent protection conversations throughout the advice journey and at key life stages, particularly for underserved groups.”
It noted that outputs will be developed with input from stakeholders across the market and designed for different intermediary models.
The FCA added that “stakeholders across the protection market should engage actively with and support AMI in delivering this initiative”.
‘Clear success measures’
In launching these initiatives, the FCA highlighted that to be effective, the AMI and PDG‑led initiatives should work alongside and support existing industry and stakeholder activity.
“Stakeholders should seek to coordinate efforts and share learning to maximise impact,” it said.
It also emphasised these initiatives must be designed and delivered in a way consistent with competition law.
“They should also have clear success measures and monitoring arrangements, enabling progress and outcomes to be assessed in a proportionate and transparent way,” it added.
MaPS
The MaPS has agreed to expand the protection information available on its MoneyHelper website with this work already underway, with updates made to death and bereavement guidance and renting guidance and further enhancements planned for MoneyHelper Savings guidance later this year.
MaPS will then continue to give consideration to where and how protection and insurance signposts can be appropriately positioned across MoneyHelper.
The FCA said this will give consumers a neutral source of information on protection, when it may be relevant, and where they can seek further support.
In addition, as part of the forthcoming refresh of the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, which MaPS has a statutory duty to co‑ordinate, MaPS is considering how protection can be more explicitly reflected within the strategy and its associated activities.
DPMSG
The Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) has agreed to include protection information within its Digital Property Information Protocol (for England and Wales), which supports the outcomes set out in the government’s home buying and selling reform roadmap. The website features a digital end‑to‑end property buying and selling process, explains the roles and responsibilities of each profession and identifies data requirements each sector needs at every stage.
The website features a buyer‑facing ‘Finance and Protection’ page outlining relevant financial products such as mortgages, buildings insurance, contents insurance and pure protection.
“This will help prompt consumers to consider protection as part of the home‑buying process, by signposting its role alongside other financial commitments and decisions,” the FCA said.
The FCA said it will provide policy and behavioural economics expertise as well as monitor effectiveness, working with participating organisations to assess reach and engagement with the prompts and reviewing data on whether consumers subsequently seek information or advice about protection.
‘Meaningful progress in 12 to 18 months’
“From October 2026, we will start to engage with industry, firms and wider stakeholders to mobilise the work and establish arrangements for delivery,” the FCA said.
“Our work and industry‑led actions will begin by the end of 2026, and we expect meaningful progress over the next 12 to 18 months.
“We will monitor implementation closely and regularly review progress, including publishing a short update on delivery and progress by the end of 2027.
“We will assess the effectiveness of these interventions and continue to engage with stakeholders to understand emerging challenges and opportunities.
“We expect these initiatives to increase consumer engagement with and access to protection products, and ultimately reduce the protection gap, helping more consumers build financial resilience against illness, incapacity and bereavement,” it added.