Group Protection

Employers and their staff could face more questions and demands for greater workforce information from insurers when taking out new policies or schemes in light of the new Consumer Insurance Act, insurers are warning.

Providers have welcomed the government's statutory sick pay increase, but warned against "woefully" high rates of unprotected families as welfare cuts continued.

Awareness of mental ill health in the workplace has increased significantly, but there is still work to be done, a British Journal of Psychiatry paper has shown.

Take a look back at the top six most read stories on COVER this week.

The Money Advice Service (MAS) is working on "difficult" plans to measure take-up and success of simple protection products.

The simple products report could be the catalyst of a "clear blue water" reputation for income protection, despite its exclusion from the first phase of products, Unum has said.

Legal and General is considering shortening its early notification period to just 10 days for group income protection customers.

PPI controversy, opaque financial services and lack of trust in the industry are key barriers to widespread apathy about insurance protection, pensions and savings, Zurich has warned.

Zurich paid out nearly £14m in income protection claims, to 765 customers, in 2012.

Scottish Provident paid out 93% of all critical illness claims in 2012.