The nation’s financial security depends on cover provided by life insurance and income protection

Households are benefitting from the cover accessed via Synaptic’s Webline protection portal.

Every aspect of family life has been severely disrupted by the current lockdown and recession. As concerns for financial security for households inevitably increase, it is essential for consumers and advisers to ensure the correct insurance is in place for income:

• via income protection for the breadwinner;
• insure debt, especially mortgage debt, to make sure families do not inherit crushing financial burdens in the worst-case scenarios.

The life insurance industry is a critical component for the nation’s financial well-being and Synaptic’s Webline, as a leading portal for quoting and placing life insurance business online, has made access to protection quotes for consumers and advisers easier than ever through new easy-to-use comparison service.

Income protection in UK

Sales for the Income protection product category have been increasing throughout the last couple of years. According to ONS data, in 10 years, from 2003 to 2013, the yearly expenditure breakdown on life insurance by household has increased from £362 to £435 – an increase of 17%. During the same period, the same trend continues with average spend on income protection increasing from £485 to £556 – a total of 13%.

Income protection on Webline

The top three features for income protection products in 2019 were;

• Guaranteed premium
• Personal income protection
• Own occupation definition

'Counselling service included' was 17th most popular and 'helpline' was the 19th most popular. When comparing the most popular features in the 2018 data, 'counselling service' has stayed at 17th place on the list, but increased as a choice by 0.8% of advisers, with 'helpline' actually decreasing as a choice.

Market insight

In 2019 the industry has seen value-add services bolt-ons increasing and more and more providers are bringing in more tangible support services before a claim is triggered. These services benefit both the consumer by offering more support before catastrophic consequences, and the ecosystem by reducing the amount paid out every day as well as increasing the demand for insurance products. The products of 2020 are likely to fulfil more than regulatory needs and really focus on how the additional benefits of these products can be made easy to understand (as well as advise on).

A year in progress – supporting the sales process

Throughout the year, improvements to the Webline portal have included new designs for both standalone and multi-benefit journeys, which have significantly improved the time needed to compare policies.

We are focusing on helping advisers extend their reach, protecting more lives and livelihoods and raising the awareness of mental health.

Webline is facilitating an easy sales process for any size of organisation in order to protect more lives and livelihoods.

This Webline screen shows an income protection quote. Adjusting the parameters of the research is easy to explore options. The 'Apply' button allows the recommendation to be converted into an order (with pre-population of the form), taking you directly into the provider's extranet to complete the case.

Find out how our holistic approach can promote protection sales by exploring our comparison services, visit webline.