Ron Wheatcroft: What we can learn from the last 25 years

"We have seen a period of massive consolidation and most companies choosing to close their direct sales models"

clock • 5 min read

As part of COVER’s 25th anniversary coverage, Swiss Re technical manager, Ron Wheatcroft, reviews how various protection policies have fluctuated over the past 25 years and what we can learn from these historic trends.

1997 - "New Labour" won the General Election, the first Harry Potter book was published, the year of the deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, and COVER was born. Individual policies The individual protection market looked very different then. Total new term assurance policies in 1997 stood at 986,000. Contrast that with 2021; Swiss Re's latest Term & Health Watch report shows 1,698,301 new term sales for the year. Part of the difference is explained by the greater use of whole life policies back then, with 114,000 new unit-linked whole life policy sales in 2000, the year Ter...

To continue reading this article...

Join COVER for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, key trend analysis and industry insights.
  • Stay on top of the latest developments around health and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and the cost of living crisis.
  • Receive breaking news stories straight to your inbox in the daily newsletter.
  • Members only access to monthly programme 'The COVER Review'
  • Be the first to hear about our CPD accredited events and awards programmes.

Join now

 

Already a Cover member?

Login

More on Individual Protection

Most homeowners want mortgage advisers to discuss redundancy

Most homeowners want mortgage advisers to discuss redundancy

58% expect redundancy risk to increase in the next five years

Jaskeet Briah
clock 05 November 2026 • 2 min read
Protection applicants see rise in disclosure of weight loss treatment: UnderwriteMe

Protection applicants see rise in disclosure of weight loss treatment: UnderwriteMe

Buy-now outcomes "remain strong"

Jaskeet Briah
clock 04 November 2026 • 2 min read
£73.14m paid out in life and CI claims to Reassured customers

£73.14m paid out in life and CI claims to Reassured customers

Most CI claimants used the pay out for living costs

Jaskeet Briah
clock 03 November 2026 • 2 min read