Income protection (IP) products work well, but offerings can still improve by offering more deferment options, according to Alan Knowles, co-managing director at Cura Financial Services.
Participating in a panel at Health & Protection’s Protection Forum 2025, Knowles (pictured left) told delegates while there has been a lot of talk across the industry about IP product innovation, he did not think there was need for products to be overhauled.
“We probably don’t need new products,” Knowles said.
“Income protection works incredibly well. It does what it needs to do, but actually some of these changes that maybe required are tweaks.
“With the deferment period, I have three clients this year already who have got a three-year pay out on a group IP policy.
“Well there’s one company which does a five-year deferment and lots who do a one-year, but nobody does a three year.”
This has created another product gap, Knowles continued.
“We don’t need a product for that,” he added.
“We don’t need something new, but it’s a tweak, isn’t it? Something small that could help.
“There are probably lots of these nuanced areas that we can improve on.”
