The advice firm believes the figures indicate the protection market is on the up but warned that the impending European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on gender pricing could be ‘nonsensical.’
In total the firm protected 45,000 lives in 2010 and found 20% more women than men bought critical illness plans, bucking the trend in protection sales.
It also noted 34 rate changes by insurers over the last 12 months and dealt with 166 claims.
Matt Morris, senior policy adviser at LifeSearch, was generally positive about the present state of the protection marker but noted the significance of the ECJ decision.
“We’ve got a huge issue coming up which could affect the market in lots of ways and I wouldn’t be surprised if they outlawed the practice of gender pricing, which is totally nonsensical, but I’ve got a feeling that’s the way it’s going to go,” he said.
“But overall I think our stats show that things are going well. We’re not a normal broker, but our business is solely protection so I think we’re a good lightening rod for the way the industry is going. We’re not suffering massive lapse rates which I think is the norm for those who sell with advice and sales are on the up,” he added.
Morris also reflected on a growing sense of awareness by the general public that state support was falling back and the encouraging promotional moves made by providers and the income protection task force.
“We get people who talk about Aviva’s adverts on the telephone, it’s not a tidal wave and we don’t have any metrics for it at the moment, but it’s a whole part of boosting protection. And leading with life insurance rather than the over-50s plans hopefully means critical illness and income protection will follow on one day.
“So I think the next five to ten years maybe positive in the insurance industry,” he added.
