One in ten advisers believe the raft of changes to income protection (IP) and critical illness (CI) policies last year represent ‘window dressing' instead of real change, according to a poll.
The Protection Review's latest industry survey highlighted the protection market has seen a number of product enhancements for CI and IP in recent months.
It asked: do these changes mostly represent genuine value for customers, or is it more about window dressing?
A tenth (11%) of respondents said they believed the changes represented ‘window dressing'.
Meanwhile, the majority of respondents (72%) selected the 'a bit of both' option, while 17% said they thought the enhancements were ‘genuine value for money.'
Last year notable changes in the individual income protection market included the launch of simplified IP products by LV= and British Friendly.
Meanwhile Aviva moved completely to own occupation definitions while Bright Grey and Scottish Provident enhanced policies to underwrite more customers under this definition.
In the critical illness market, major players made significant changes included improvements to stroke and heart attack coverage, the addition of more ABI+ definitions and more conditions covered across the board.
Kevin Carr, chief executive of the Protection Review said: "2013 saw more CI product changes than any previous year. Thankfully many focused on the quality of cover and improved a range of areas including children's cover, partial payments, ABI+ definitions. Along with claim stats being publicised we have a really good story to tell. But is the message getting through?
"Just about every adviser we have spoken with is in favour of the changes and judging by some of the consumer press coverage towards the end of last year the product finally seems to be moving away from some of the negative headlines that have caused so much doubt over the years. However, a lot of cynicism remains and clearly there is still more work to do."
