Protection Forum (November 2025) – Underwriting flexibility – Part Two
In this latest Protection Forum session, we explored the evolving landscape of underwriting flexibility within the protection market. Our expert panel examined how insurers approach risk, how advisers experience current processes, and where improvements could strengthen outcomes for both clients and providers.
Our panel included:
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Ed Durrell, Managing Director – Cover Direct
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Michael Chapman, Head of Protection & General Insurance – Dynamo
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Darren Philp, Senior Mortgage Manager – Evolve Financial Solutions
The first half of the session focused on the strengths the industry has developed, while the second half shifted into real adviser experiences and practical challenges. The panel discussed inconsistencies in decision-making, delays with GP reports, income verification, occupational classification, and the growing impact of clients taking on multiple jobs. They also explored how mental health disclosures are treated and whether exclusions could provide fairer outcomes than blanket declines.
These insights offer a clear, grounded picture of the current underwriting environment and the areas where meaningful improvement is most needed.
Below, you can explore the session highlights and listen to the full session audio to hear the full discussion
“Being able to verify the income for the amount that they’re paying for would put a better spin on it for customers… every chance I get, it’s right, I’m going to verify their income with the provider.”
“There are a couple of insurers that do offer it, but I think it needs to be blanket across the board, particularly if you’ve got someone who’s self-employed or reliant on commission… they can guarantee what they’re paying for is what’s going to get paid out.”
“I’d quite like to see providers be a bit more open to the current economic situation. I’ve got several clients with two jobs at two very different classes… it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find income protection that will cover certainly the higher class with the smaller sick pay period.”
“It’d be good to see insurers recognise that people are having to get second jobs… where the primary job is sedentary and the other is higher risk. It’s a long way off at the moment.”
“Vitality are very good for it… but sometimes not everything fits Vitality. So every chance I get it’s ‘right, I’m going to verify their income with the provider.”
Click the audio playback below to listen to the full session.
Full session audio
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 2:
“We had a scenario where the client had previous medical disclosures and was declined… it needed to go for a GP report. We’re going to see more scenarios like that when GP reports take so long to come back.”
“We should be moaning about how long it’s taking for GP reports, not how long it’s taken for providers to look at the additional information or go back on a question.”
“I think the idea of understanding what the client does in their role should be prioritised over the job title because it gives more clarity and should help with underwriting.”
“That should come hand-in-hand with not penalising clients… I think that’s an excessive use of a rating there.”
“It frustrates me that a client can suffer with a mental health disclosure… and they’re not able to get life insurance, but in some cases they could get income protection because they’d have a mental health exclusion.”
“Life insurance has always done a job and it’s just not been touched. I’d love the industry to shake it up… clients would absolutely bite your hand off to take an exclusion rather than not get cover at all.”
“Why can’t we use the moratorium concept more?… Would it be a nice short- to medium-term bridge if it is going to be an AI-led underwriting world?”
“Why can’t we have almost like a service level agreement… within hours your underwriting request has been acknowledged? Clients need clarity.”
“Aviva is running at 49 days at the moment… which leads to client disengagement and lack of transparency.”
“We can’t go back to an insurer and say ‘I was overweight and smoking and now I’m active… this is what I do’ — you have no option to do that.”
“If you’re doing a really great fact find and asking difficult questions… but if you disclose anything to do with mental health, then it becomes a barrier.”
“How much time is being wasted in chasing? On the broker side and the insurer’s side… how many times can they pick up and say, ‘Yep, it’s in the queue’? It’s still using valuable time.”
Underwriting requires nuanced expert risk-assessment, but life insurers reduce it to a generic administrative process. The result is a lowest-common-denominator approach and a lack of meaningful segmentation. Everything has to fit a template these days.
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