Insurers say they are continuing work to ensure the needs of vulnerable customers and those with mental health issues are met, and that providers always abide with the Equality Act.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) told Health & Protection that looking after customers was its members’ top priority.
“We’re aware that insurance, like other service sectors, needs to help break down any barriers customers may face when trying to access services and support,” the ABI said.
“We’ve worked closely with mental health organisations to better understand the needs of people with mental health conditions and published our Mental Health Standards in 2020 to drive consistency and best practice across the sector. These were published alongside a consumer guide for insurance, developed with Mental Health and Money Advice.
“There is always more we can do and we are continuing to work with our members and the regulators to address the different needs of customers, including vulnerable customers, and insurers will always abide by the Equality Act.”
The ABI was responding to research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) indicating insurers are likely to be failing to meet legal duties set out in the Equality Act 2010 requiring them to anticipate and address the needs of customers when engaging those with mental health concerns.
Work undertaken by insurers
Insurers have also told Health & Protection the report’s findings were important and how they are continuing to evolve and adapt policies and processes to support customers with mental health concerns.
Justin Harper, protection proposition and marketing director at LV=, welcomed the institute’s findings.
“It is absolutely essential that we continue to review and improve not just the questions we ask, but how we develop a better understanding of people’s situation, with care and empathy,” he said.
“LV= has introduced a number of mental health related measures during the pandemic, focused on offering increased mental health support and access as part of our protection proposition – including the payment break, 24/7 unlimited access to remote GPs and its confidential emotional support service for young adults.”
Harper noted that collaborating with the ABI to develop its Mental Health Standards in 2020 helped LV= re-evaluate its approach to mental health and contributed to introducing a key policy innovation.
“LV= is still the only provider to include automatic reviewable exclusions for protection customers, allowing those with pre-existing conditions, including mental health, the ability to remove them after a certain time period,” he continued.
“Mental illness is currently the most common condition to have an automatic reviewable exclusion and can be removed after up to three years of no further issues.”
Equality Act familiarity
Canada Life noted its policies have specific requirements around the Equality Act.
“As a health and life insurer, understanding people, their illness and symptoms and how we can help is baked into our DNA,” the insurer said.
“Our policies have specific requirements of employers around the Equality Act and this brings us strong levels of familiarity with the act.
“We train our people annually in how to spot vulnerability and what to do to help people, which covers physical, life event and mental health vulnerabilities.”
Vitality revealed it has worked with the ABI to implement its mental health and insurance standards to support individuals with prior or existing mental health conditions.
“The standards aim to improve how customers access our products including changes to the application process, how questions are asked, how we communicate with our customers and transparency of underwriting decisions,” a Vitality spokesperson added.
“Our employees also receive training and attend awareness programmes to give them greater insight into the most common mental health conditions, ensure they can better communicate with customers with a mental health condition, and signpost them onto relevant services as required.”
Standard rate terms
And according to Peter Hamilton, head of market engagement at Zurich UK, the insurer has a wide range of measures in place to ensure it can support customers with mental health conditions.
“This includes a vulnerable customer network and extensive training completed across the business, obviously including, but not limited to, our customer-facing teams,” he added.
“We regularly review the cover we’re able to offer, and changes at the beginning of this year mean we offer standard rate terms for those with anxiety, stress and depression where symptoms are well managed.
“We’ve also improved the wording of application questions so we can better understand individual circumstances and minimise requests for additional medical information.
“To coincide with these changes, all underwriting explanation letters to all customers have also been reviewed in line with the ABI’s mental health standards, published last year, to ensure they deliver information clearly and with sensitivity.”
Market research testing improvements
Legal & General said customers were its upmost priority, adding it offers additional support and reasonable adjustments across communication channels whether by phone, letter, email or webchat.
“Our staff undergo customer experience training that helps them to identify and support those with vulnerabilities and at the customer’s discretion, our agents can also signpost them to a number of support services if additional care and support is appropriate,” an L&G spokesperson added.
“For customers that require face-to-face interaction and support through their protection application we would recommend an appointment via their bank or an intermediary.”
Touching on FCA guidance on supporting vulnerable customers as best practice, the spokesperson said L&G was continually reviewing written communications to make them clear and simple for all customers.
“Where possible we use market research to develop our understanding and test our improvements with customers to ensure they are the best they can be,” the insurer continued.
“Our underwriting approach is kept under regular review to ensure the questions we ask and the language we use reflects current practice in the treatment of mental health, and that the terms we offer to customers are fair and take into account our overall risk appetite.”
Reviewing accessibility standards
AIG Life said it was “very conscious” of how important it is to identify and look after customers in vulnerable situations.
“We’re always improving to make sure we do the right thing,” the insurer said.
“Some of the things we’ve done recently include updating our systems and processes, and we’re refreshing our training for frontline colleagues so they’re better informed of how to treat customers from all walks of life.
“As part of that process, for example, we maintain a list of customers that are identified as in vulnerable situations. We tailor our communications to ensure they get the correct support, such as people who need documents in braille. And we’re revisiting how we meet accessibility standards in digital documents.”
An AIG Life spokesperson added that as financial pressures make people feel vulnerable and have an impact on their mental health too, its flexible request policy may also be useful to customers.
“We introduced flexible policy requests in April 2020 to allow individual protection customers who were struggling during the pandemic lockdown to reduce their premium for six months and continue to be insured, but at a lower level of cover.
“We’ve kept that going throughout the pandemic as it’s allowed individual customers who were facing financial hardship to reduce their monthly outgoings and remain insured.
“The cost of living is rising and people are clearly feeling the financial pressure, so it might be valuable to help ease customer worries.”
Also commenting a spokesperson for Aegon said the the industry has a responsibility of supporting customers with mental and physical needs.
“This is also a regulatory requirement. We make it a priority that all employees are aware of their responsibilities when dealing with customers who have mental health issues and we are continually developing our approach alongside any new guidance from regulatory bodies.”