Advisers are finding more value in protection. Why now?

During my time around the protection market, and I suspect, for many years prior, the industry has voiced a concern that advisers don’t seem to value protection the way that they should.

This is important, because advisers don’t just react to demand for life insurance policies. They’re in fact more akin to a force driving consumer behaviour change. Initiating conversations, creating demand, energising engagement. That’s all before they make a recommendation and begin what can be a lengthy journey to clarify terms and get their client on cover.

So, when this year I started to look at and analyse the data we supply to the annual Swiss Re Term & Health Watch, I was intrigued by what appears to be a developing trend. Advisers are beginning to find more value in protection, but not necessarily in the ways I might have first thought. Here’s how.

Average premium equivalent (APE) is growing faster than sales

We all know that in recent years, consumer spending and disposable income has been hit hard by a combination of factors – including rising interest rates (albeit from historic lows), increasing fuel and energy prices and the subsequent impact on inflation.

So, one would assume this lack of spending power would impact those customers buying protection, and indeed the number of them. The data proves otherwise.

In 2024, new business applications were up by 7.7% (on iPipeline portals) – a trend that has continued into 2025. But this growth in pure application numbers has been outstripped by APE – growing at over 11% for the year. This hasn’t been down to an increase in average premium, where the competitive nature of the UK market has continued with falls across both term and IP and with only CI showing increased average premiums as product coverage increases too.

So, advisers are recommending protection to more clients. Good. They’re also recommending great levels of cover to their clients. Great.

But the trends don’t stop here

Recent years’ data has witnessed the increasing popularity of multi-benefit plans, as advisers opt to recommend not just single cover protection solutions, but multiple covers to protect different health scenarios. 2025 shows that there is no let up in this trend for now.

Average product density grows through the year, as did the number of clients who were recommended some combination of multi-benefit plan. In fact, multi-benefit is now the chosen option for over a third of all protection customers passing through our portals.

So, advisers are having and converting the protection conversation with more of their clients – and are then turning that conversation into more types of cover, for higher premiums.

The definition of value is: “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.”

Looking at the data, advisers are beginning to view protection with greater importance and placing a higher worth on recommending it as part of their process.

Now to find out the reasons why.

“Average product density grows through the year, as did the number of clients who were recommended some combination of multi-benefit plan. In fact, multi-benefit is now the chosen option for over a third of all protection customers passing through our portals. ”