Holloway Friendly: 'Radical' changes to mental health underwriting

In October, we announced that income protection mutual Holloway Friendly had plans to overhaul its approach to underwriting cases with a history of poor mental health.

Today, the insurer has launched what it regards as a new, more inclusive philosophy which it said offers a more personalised method which will consider if cover can be provided without automatic exclusions even if medication is already being used.

Holloway Friendly's new question set enables each applicant to be assessed individually so that their mental health situation and the way it is managed is fully understood.

The mutual said that it had collaborated with mental health experts to gain credible insights to the support the development of what it is calling a "market-leading" approach.

Holloway Friendly CEO Stuart Tragheim said: "We want to help improve access to income protection cover for more customers who have experienced short-term mental health problems and where they have recovered from the condition or it is being well managed. The historical underwriting approach adopted by many insurers is outdated and doesn't reflect the increased knowledge and management of mental mealth conditions that is now available. 

"We believe our new approach to be market-leading and we encourage other insurers to review their approach to how they underwrite customers with mental health conditions so we can improve access to insurance."

Have you signed up for the COVER Mental Health & Wellbeing Summit on Thursday 12 March?

Suzy Esson, Head of Operations at Holloway Friendly, added: "I am very excited that we have been able to deliver this new approach to underwriting mental health conditions. As we become more aware of our mental health and the maintenance of this, it's only right that we update our underwriting philosophy to reflect these changes. This is a brave, pioneering change which will make such a positive difference to the perception of mental health conditions and how we, as an industry, treat those affected by it."

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• Topics
• Individual Protection
• Underwriting
• Income Protection
• Holloway Friendly
• COVER Mental Health & Wellbeing Summit
• Suzy Esson
• Stuart Tragheim
• mental health