Advisers unswayed by protection policy pricing - Research

Research has shown advisers assess product attributes over any pricing consideration when advising on protection.

'It won't happen to me: A Study of the UK Intermediated Disability Insurance Market' by CWC Research tried to identify how often advisers recommend pricier policies.

Clive Waller, managing director of CWC Research said: "We found our data told us absolutely nothing, there was no statistical relationship at all in terms how often advisers do not recommend the cheapest. This in turn tells us that advisers approach policy pricing in an individual way."

This partially refuted another finding in the research, reported by COVER in a preview of the data, that advisers lacked protection knowledge.

So CWC Research returned to the advisers and asked them for the reasons why they did not recommend the cheapest premium.

"Again you would think it would be about claims," said Waller, "because that is what the policy is for, but I don't recall anyone saying claims were the most critical criteria."

Despite claims statistics being made available as a sales tool by providers, conditions, at 49%, were more likely to be the reason to recommend a pricier policy, followed by administration (19%) and underwriting (17%).

However, Nick Kirwan assistant director of protection at the Association of British Insurers, commented: "I am not surprised brokers are not worried about claims. This aspect is perceived as fixed by the industry and there have been so many mergers and acquisitions that it is hard to say who you would be claiming from in ten years time."