In our second quarterly review of 2025 covering April to June, Health & Protection staged its latest IPMI Summit.
Guardian appointed a new CEO, Aviva switched its health insurance leadership, while there were also high profile exits and the sector marked Pride and Stress Awareness months.
April
As the warmer months took hold, Guardian announced the appointment of Carlton Hood as CEO from Responsible Life.
Aviva also made a high profile change as it appointed Matt McGill as managing director for health, taking over from Steve Bridger who held the role for five years.
We also brought readers an exclusive on Broadway Insurance entering the world of protection with Stuart Lowe brought on board in order to facilitate this.
Health & Protection quizzed insurers on how the changes to national insurance contributions (NICs), which went live on 6 April, would effect employers with group income protection (GIP) plans.
Axa Health confirmed a 15% fee hike for the anaesthetists they work with.
Saga also revealed its private medical insurance (PMI) sales fell almost 10% in 2024 as the group faced tough competition and tighter margins, while it paid a £2.6m share of profit to previous insurer Axa Health.
The FCA revealed that its protection market study will have ‘high’ a impact and reach into H2 2026.
We also covered how a landmark Supreme Court gender ruling may affect PMI underwriters.
And to mark Stress Awareness Month, we asked professionals across the sector and found Mr Blue Sky, Thunderstruck and even Fairytale of New York featured among advisers’ top stress-busting songs.
May
May brings with it Health & Protection’s IPMI Summit which took place at Easthampstead Park Hotel in Wokingham.
Sylvain Charpilienne, managing director at ExpaTPA, explained why bringing hackers in to keep their organisation safe from cyber threats is just one of the expectations organisations operating in the international private medical insurance (IPMI) industry should have of the third-party administrators (TPAs) they engage.
Health & Protection exclusively revealed Howden was buying BAS, and that Legal & General withdrew two paid-for additional services from its proposition within the last six months after the third-party provider Axis Speciality London, withdrew its support.
To mark Dementia Action Week, we spoke to Kathryn Knowles, co-managing director at Cura Financial Services, about the shock of finding out her dad has Parkinson’s-related dementia after her mum had tried to cope on her own and how why while widespread cover past age 70 may be not realistic, the protection sector can up its game when it comes to carer support.
Meanwhile, Claire Bostock, national account manager at HSBC Life, revealed how a malignant melanoma caused her change her outlook on life and realise you can earn more money, but you can’t earn more time.
Angela Davidson bid a fond farewell to the sector after 20 years in protection advice and Paul Moulton announced his retirement after more than three decades with Axa Health.
And Generali exited the UK group risk market as Unum bought its renewal rights and joined its network.
Meanwhile April International agreed a deal with HAYAH Insurance to offer IPMI products in the UAE.
And Claire Ginnelly stepped down as Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) vice chairwoman, while the body’s spring summit heard advisers need claims data from private medical insurers for SME clients to fulfil their regulatory objectives.
June
Hitting the midpoint of the year, we had a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Bupa Insurance UK CEO, Chris Carroll in which he talked about the unsustainability of PMI pricing, being open to overhauling commission and ‘not babysitting a business’.
Health & Protection also published the latest edition of our IPMI Service Ratings and report into the market.
Guardian’s Meet the CEO event took place where new CEO, Carlton Hood, revealed why focusing on real customer risks will help the protection sector hit three million sales.
WPA Health Insurance’s Health Beyond Benefits event was also held where Julie Denning explained why EAPs on their own cannot fix UK plc’s growing mental health crisis among younger workers.
And finally, June is Pride Month and we ran our an analysis which contained the astonishing revelation from an industry professional from the LGBTQ community who said she felt that society is on the cusp of a 50/50 divide between those that support Pride and those who don’t want to understand why it is important.
However, Zander Butterworth at Canada Life spoke to Health & Protection about being surprised at the great attitudes towards LGBTQ+ communities across the industry.