New business in Royal London’s protection offering almost trebled in 2025 thanks to a rebound in mortgage lending and changes to inheritance tax rules.
The insurer welcomed £77m in new protection sales during the year, up from £27m in 2024. This more than doubled the new business margin to 7.7% from 3.2% in 12 months.
Overall, protection sales increased by 17% to £991m, up from £846m in 2024.
Royal London said there was strong demand for the joint life second death term product it launched in 2024 following inheritance tax changes.
Barry O’Dwyer (pictured), Royal London’s group chief executive, also put the strong performance last year down to an increasing number of advisers choosing the insurer to meet customers’ protection needs.
As Royal London is a mutual, its profit is reported as a transfer to the fund for future appropriations, which was unchanged at £167m year-on-year.
However the performance of the protection business helped Royal London, which also has a pensions operation, to report an 18% improvement in group adjusted operating profit to £327m, compared to £277m in 2024.
Across the Irish Sea
But it wasn’t just in the UK where the protection business performed strongly. In Ireland such sales reached £202m, up from £188m in 12 months.
Serious illness products across the Irish Sea witnessed “significant growth” following new product enhancements in late 2024.
Royal London said it was also working to improve how it supports its distribution partners.
For example, the website has been redesigned to allow advisers to view the latest policy changes.
More than half of million people are registered with its digital service with almost a quarter of a million customers using it to access their information and better understand their plans and options.
Royal London paid 98% of protection claims in 2025, providing £771m to more than 57,000 UK customers and their families.
