The Practical Protection Podcast

Hi, everyone! I have ended up out of sequence! Last time I said we would be back with an episode on fatty liver disease, but the FCA has published its Protection Market Interim Report, and I absolutely had to cover this.
The good news is that the FCA thinks that the protection industry is working really well, it just needs a couple of tweaks. Overall, I am really happy with what the report says, but there are some areas I don’t agree with and you can hear my views in this episode. I am going through their review of insurance costs, claims, complaints, the role of commissions, restricted panels, loaded premiums and more.
The key takeaways:
Within pure protection products, income protection has the lowest value in terms of cost compared to claims success, but is still much higher than other insurances
Loaded premiums, commission and restricted panels have been analysed and shown to not show significant detriment to consumers
Closing the Protection Gap remains one of the key challenges for the protection insurance industry

There are a lot of insights in the report and it is well worth a read. I’ve tried to pick out certain pages to direct you to, in case you don’t fancy the full thing, it is 47 pages.
Next time Alan will be back with me and we will be covering how fatty liver disease and protection insurance work.
Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

Hi, everyone! As I am sure you can imagine I am always looking for ideas about what to cover in the podcast. We’ve done lots on health conditions, I’ve done deep dives into insurance products, commented on market developments, but I was absolutely shocked to realise I have not done a specific episode of vulnerable clients.
Most of you probably recognise my name as a specialist protection insurance adviser and really specifically someone that helps people with higher health risks. I’ve often spoken about the needs of vulnerable clients and been involved in multiple industry events for this topic. I’ve even won an award or two.
So it seems silly that I have not covered this before and I am going to make sure that I give you as many tips as I can during the episode.
The key takeaways:
Examples of common vulnerabilities
Guidance on how to build a vulnerable client register
Ways to support your clients and your employees/colleagues when discussing vulnerable situations

Vulnerability is very subjective and it can also change over time. Sometimes people can think, well we’ve never come across this before and we will just handle it if it happens. Which you can do, but it is much easier if you have a clear structured process in place. Your clients and your colleagues will thank you for it.
Next time Alan Knowles will be back with me and we will be deep diving into fatty liver disease.
Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

Hi everyone, we are back and talking about the use of weight loss drugs and getting protection insurance. Millions of people in the UK are now taking drugs like mounjaro and ozempic, to help them reach a healthy weight.
Health professionals and insurers have said for many years that having a higher BMI isn’t healthy and can lead to long-term health complications. Weight loss drugs are proving to be a highly effective way for people to lose weight, which is generally seen as a good thing. But, there are side effects to taking the drugs too and at the moment there is very little long-term data to know what this may mean for someone 5, 10, 15 or 20 years down the line.
The key takeaways:
The use of weight loss drugs is showing very positive results from short-term data
There is not enough long-term data around the use of mounjaro, ozempic, or other weight loss drugs, for insurers to completely understand client risks
Two case studies of arranging life insurance for people who are taking or have taken mounjaro

It has been a super intense start to the year, we were caught in the snow and school snow days have certainly had an impact on my timings. At this moment I’m not sure what the next episode will be covering but make sure to tune it as I will be bringing you even more protection insurance insights.
Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

Hi everyone, we are talking about neurofibromatosis, a rare condition that causes tumours to develop in the body. The tumours are not usually cancerous, but it is still a condition that can lead insurers to take an extra look at the insurance application. There are three types of neurofibromatosis and each of them are reviewed by the insurers on a case by case basis, as the symptoms and affect on a person’s life can vary so greatly.
The key takeaways:
Neurofibromatosis can cause difficulties for the skin, nerves, heart, bone development, balance, hearing and more.
Neurofibromatosis can lead to other conditions such as epilepsy, scoliosis, deafness and vision loss.
Two case studies of arranging life insurance for people living with neurofibromatosis.

This is our final episode of 2025 and I hope that you all have a lovely festive period and come back in 2026 feeling super refreshed and ready to learn more about protection insurance. .
Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

Hi everyone, I have been taking at look at the recent paper from the FCA, that has been written to give an initial view of how the industry works, the players in it, potential consumers and outcomes from accessing insurance.
Overall I think the paper was really well written and gave an accurate portrayal of the industry. It was clearly written and not too long, so I would recommend giving it a read if you can. I’m not a data lover, but, they did have some stats in the paper that really stood out and I think are brilliant examples of how intermediaries are in this space.
The key takeaways:
In 2023 individual protection insurance claims totalled £4.85 billion.
97% of income protection sales are advised, we’re doing an amazing job!
Key focuses of the review are going to be ensuring effective competition, addressing the protection gap for vulnerable consumers, assessing influence of distribution channels on consumer outcomes, and reviewing commission and broking practices.

Next time Alan is going to be back with me and we are going to be talking about arranging protection insurance for people living with neurofibromatosis.
Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.