Building a simple income replacement product as outlined in the recent Review of Simple Financial Products may not be entirely possible, Aviva has said.
Richard Verdin, protection director at Aviva, said the report's proposals were a definite positive but was not convinced on how the IP structure would work.
He said: "The hardest part with the simple income replacement product will be establishing how it fits in with individuals. That will include employment type, the existing cover there and from state benefits.
"The question is how do you go make a simple IP product? It has to have a lot of options because the individual will have different provisions already. The level of variables we need to deal with makes this very hard. I am not 100% convinced on how this will work."
But he added the crux of its success, regardless of shape, would be consumer communication.
He said: "We need to have consistent messages put out there, telling consumers to make a financial plan instead of about how big the protection gap is.
"If people sit down and really make a plan about their finances they can then see what they do and do not need. Buying products does not need to be the social norm, making a plan does."
Verdin added the message would need to be consistent and everywhere; in the form of posters, leaflets and online videos, for example; and in places such as schools, banks, building societies and the workplace.
Unum met with the steering group report's chair Carol Sergeant on 9 August to discuss how the workplace could be crucial in the simple products' success.
