PARADIGM PROTECTION NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2025 www.paradigm.co.uk/protection
CONTENTS 4 Protection Market Update Paradigm Protect Mike Allison 8 Guardian Future Proofing Protection and our biggest Cover Upgrade yet 10 Nationwide Neuroinclusion: What Does It Mean for Brokers, Colleagues, and Customers?
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and our newly formed Healthcare business wrote over £4m between SME and Individual. So a big thank you to all firms within Paradigm Protect who contributed to that success. The Market In June, we were given access to the Swiss Re Market Report which has become the yardstick for measuring the growth or otherwise in the protection market for each calendar year. We also receive data sources from other areas to help build a picture of the intermediated market. So the “highlights” below come from a variety of sources but predominantly the Swiss Re Report. They are: • Total Term Assurance sales decreased with a sustained drop in Level Term Assurance sales. • Decreasing Term Assurance and Relevant Life sales, however, saw growth. Sales of term assurance with Critical Illness continued to fall, predominantly decreasing term with Critical Illness policies. • Income Protection sales continue to grow. There was impressive growth in sales of “full term” Income Protection, and one to two year Limited Payment Term products. • Sales of Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life numbers declined slightly. This market is yet to recover from the substantial drop in 2022. In addition we saw: • Intermediated Sales: Slight rise in all areas but term. • AVERAGE Term Prices dropped by 5%. Mike Allison Director of Protection Paradigm Protect Protection Market Update 04 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER Welcome to the latest edition of the Paradigm Protect Newsletter! As ever, we bring you some different perspectives, and I think the Guardian article on looking after existing Customers via their Cover upgrade is a real positive message Paradigm Protect Results You may have read in the Press recently that our Parent Company Tatton announced its trading figures for Year ended March 2025. Key Highlights for the Group were: • AUM/I3 increased by 24.0% to £21.825bn (2024: £17.604bn). Current latest AUM/ I3 at June 2025 £22.941bn (AUM3 £21.940bn). • Record organic net inflows of £3.687bn (2024: £2.303bn), an increase of 22.3% of opening AUM, with an average run rate of £307m per month (June to date, 10 weeks: £611m, or equivalent to £265m per month). • Paradigm Mortgages participated in mortgage completions totalling £14.2bn (2024: £13.1bn), an 8.1% increase year on year. As part of those results: Paradigm Protect increased Individual Protection AP Year on Year by 24%. In addition Group Risk was circa £1.4m through our Partnership with UNUM alone,
05 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER Continued on next page... • Non-Advised purchases represented 33% of new LTA business, with a 6.5% drop in non-advised purchases from the previous year (following on from a 27.7% drop in 2023). • Sales of Multi – Benefit Policies grew by 12% - and multi benefit Sales now make up a third of the market. • Business Protection, Relevant Life AND Whole Life all showing strong growth – Underwritten WL leading at +26%. In last month’s edition we talked about the implications of the Autumn Budget and the opportunities this will bring in our sector. As the concern continues to grow in relation to IHT biting in to Pension Pots in 2027 – activity continues to grow in this space. According to iPipeline there has been a 92% rise in underwritten whole of life products in Q1 2025. This is hardly surprising as we see headlines telling us that IHT receipts for April 2025 were at £800 million - £97m higher than the same period last year, showing an increase in the scale and commonality of IHT liabilities. Total Revenue receipts for IHT for 24/25 was £8.25bn – up 14% on the previous year. This gives all of us an opportunity to talk about the issue and looking for ways to mitigate or offset the liability using Life Products, gifting and trusts. Responsibilities to clients under Consumer Duty is to “avoid foreseeable harm”, and the likelihood is that claims management companies will use this as they have with other areas in the past to implicate adviser firms in the process. I would suggest for those whose clients may have a problem with IHT to get as much communication as you can generate around the issue and the “risks” of not at least looking at the options would be a good start. Claims Season Again, in last month’s article I mentioned that claims season is upon us when most insurers will tell us what percentage have and haven’t been paid, and it is pleasing to see more and more Providers are showing why claims were not paid – supporting the need for transparency and the importance of getting the underwriting questions answered correctly at application stage. This quarter we saw Guardian do just that too – what also impressed was the output from them showing how their innovations are making a difference . For Life Claims, it’s the second year in a row that Guardian has paid 100% of Life claims. Of those, 56% of policies were paid using Payout Planner (their beneficiary nomination), meaning the payout could be paid directly to the named beneficiary, bypassing probate and saving an average 4 months average. In relation to their Terminal Illness claims, they were listed separately in their results and reflect Guardian’s claims experience on its premier Life Protection cover, which has an enhanced terminal illness definition. Their definition pays out on the definite diagnosis of incurable stage 4 cancer, motor neurone disease,
06 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER Parkinson-plus syndromes and CreutzfeldtJakob disease (CJD) regardless of the policyholder’s life expectancy. In 2024, 56% of the terminal illness claims that Guardian paid would not yet have met the industry standard definition at the time of payout; a statistic clearly demonstrating the customer value of this enhanced definition. Underwriting Helpline Many of you have continued to use our Underwriting helpline as we try to maximise our support to you, especially where it comes to helping as many people as possible to get some sort of Life Cover/ CI or Income Protection regardless of any health issues they have. Typically we help advisers to place cases where Insurers have different underwriting criteria depending on varying medical conditions. Top enquiries requiring attention and where we have had success in supporting our firms are: • BMI • High Blood Pressure • Diabetes - Type 2 • Diabetes - Type 1 • Awaiting Surgery/Investigation/Referral/ GP • Family History - Breast Cancer • Mental Health - Anxiety • Mental Health - Depression If you have any such issues please send your query to Marc. In certain instances where ailments are too serious or too recent we still want to help you. As such we have now partnered with a specialist – The Insurance Surgery. They have access to underwriters who will offer a wide range Cover to “non-standard” applicants – for further information click here. Unemployment Cover Given the less than certain economic environment we have been looking for a supplier of Unemployment Cover for some time and now have now agreed a commercial arrangement for you. The product we are using is designed to help protect a proportion of monthly income – mainly to cover Mortgage payments if client becomes unemployed through no fault of their own, or cannot work due to an accident or through sickness. Predominantly it will cover a maximum monthly payment is £2,000 or 65% of normal income, whichever is the lower. You can apply for additional cover of up to 25% of your monthly mortgage payment subject to the maximum monthly payment allowable above. If you want access to the Product get in touch with us. Professional Indemnity Earlier in the year we emailed firms confirming that we have a new Partner for PI Insurance. Many of our firms have already been offered significant savings on their annual premiums, and if you'd like additional information click here. Events I would just want to give a shout out to our upcoming Events this year which I know are a source of great information from what we have fed back. Look at the schedule here. Yet again thank you for your continued support of our proposition – we are continuing to add to it to broaden the Products and Services we offer to you and to keep what we do Market Leading.
07 SPRING PROTECT NEWSLETTER
When are existing customers treated as well as new ones? I can’t think of many examples. In a world obsessed with acquiring new customers, the loyalty of existing ones often seems like an afterthought. Deals, discounts, and preferential treatment are frequently dangled in front of new customers, while long-standing ones are left wondering where their reward is for sticking around. Why is loyalty so often overlooked, and what can companies do to truly value their existing customers? At Guardian, we believe that existing customers should be treated as well as new ones. Which is why when we came to market in 2018, we did so with our cover upgrade promise. It’s our promise to policyholders that if we improve our critical illness definitions after their policy has started, we’ll give those improved definitions to them as an existing policyholder. This means they can claim on any of the definitions listed in their policy terms and conditions, or any improved definitions we subsequently add. And we’ve just made our biggest cover upgrade yet. Across our adults and children’s critical illness cover, we’ve added 5 new definitions, upgraded 24 existing definitions, made neutral wording changes to 16 definitions and rewritten 3 for greater clarity on when we wouldn’t pay a claim. And even better, we’re giving all these updates to new and existing customers at no extra cost. We recognise that critical illness cover must be both reliable and adaptable. It needs to pay out when expected and keep pace with the ever-evolving landscape of medical science. Which is why we’ve made a couple of key changes to our critical illness cover. For example, under our updated definitions, policyholders undergoing a major organ transplant will still receive a payout even if they receive an artificial organ or an organ from an animal. We know that scientists are employing cutting edge tools and techniques to create artificial organs1, it’s a medical development that’s happening now. And we want to acknowledge the rapid progress in medical technology and make sure our definitions stay relevant now and in the future. By future proofing our critical illness cover we’re offering your clients peace of mind that they won’t be left behind as medical research advances. We’ve also removed our surgery cover definition, which previously offered a partial payout for specific procedures. Instead, we’ve improved those definitions to include a 100% payout on placement Future proofing protection and our biggest cover upgrade yet Laura Mitchell Marketing Manager Guardian 08 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER
on the NHS waiting list. At the same time, we’ve added 4 more 100% payments and included 2 conditions which will pay out an additional payment amount should they be placed on an NHS waiting list. In February 2024, 305,050 people waited more than a year for their treatment on the NHS2. This change aims to provide crucial financial support when it's most needed. We understand the strain of waiting for treatment, and we believe our updated definitions will offer greater financial security during those difficult times. We’ve seen the tangible difference our cover upgrade promise has made. John (not his real name), who took his critical illness cover in July 2019. John's policy included a Parkinson's disease definition requiring permanent clinical impairment of motor function and both associated tremor and rigidity. Later that year, we updated this definition to require permanent clinical impairment, including either tremor or rigidity. In 2023, John was diagnosed with Parkinson's, experiencing tremor but not yet rigidity. Under his original policy, his claim might have been denied. However, thanks to our cover upgrade promise, we assessed his claim against the updated definition and John received a full payout. It might seem like a small change in the definition wording, but it made a big difference to John. It just goes to show the difference our cover upgrade promise can make. Next time you’re talking about critical illness cover with your clients, consider sharing the news of our cover upgrades and John’s story. It's a story of innovation, commitment to looking after our customers, and a genuine desire to protect the people who matter most. Find out more about our Critical Illness Protection here. Guardian Financial Services Limited is an appointed representative of Scottish Friendly Assurance Society Limited. All products are provided by Scottish Friendly. 1The Scientist, Artificial Organs: Innovating to Replace Donors and Dialysis, January 2023. 2The King’s Fund, Waiting times for elective (nonurgent) treatment: referral to treatment (RTT) May 2024 . 09 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER
Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that refers to the natural variation in how people think, process information and behave. Forms of neurodivergence include, but are not limited to, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette Syndrome and ADHD. People who are not neurodiverse can be referred to as neurotypical. It’s estimated that between 1 in 5 and 1 in 7 people in the UK are neurodivergent—that’s around 13 million individuals, or 15–20% of the population (The Donaldson Trust, 2025) . Neuroinclusion is the creation of an environment and a culture that embraces and accommodates everyone, including both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals. What can you do to create environments where neurodivergent colleagues and customers feel comfortable, understood, and included? • Disclosure: In order to meet people’s support needs, you need to understand what they are. To do this you need to create an environment where colleagues and customers feel safe to talk to you. It is essential to focus on individuals’ support needs and preferences, not the underlying reason for them. Things to consider: ◊ How can you encourage people to share their needs in a way that feels safe and supportive? ◊ How do you reassure people that you will respond to those needs in a positive way? ◊ How do you tailor your products, services and workplaces to meet those individual needs? • Conversations: One of the most powerful ways to support everyone is to ask simple, inclusive questions. For example, “Are there any adjustments I can make to support you through this process?”. This isn’t necessarily just at the start of a relationship or conversation but should be something you are mindful of in all interactions with both customers and colleagues. • Respond: If a colleague or customer chooses to tell you about a preference or a need, it is imperative that you respond even if the request is something that cannot be accommodated. Failure to respond can make people feel unheard or as if their needs are not important which can damage relationships and build mistrust. If a request cannot be accommodated, an explanation should be given and alternative support options should be explored. • Awareness: With up to 20% of people potentially being neurodivergent, how 10 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER Gemma Clarke Interrmediary Proposition Manager Nationwide Neuroinclusion: What Does It Mean for Brokers, Colleagues, and Customers?
do you make sure you recognise and respond to their needs and preferences? Consider: ◊ Awareness training for colleagues. ◊ Using research and insight to improve understanding of barriers and potential harms. ◊ Using lived experience experts particularly when developing, changing or withdrawing processes, products and services. For Colleagues, Customers and Culture • One size doesn’t fit all: What works for one person may not work for another— but starting the conversation is key • Supportive practices: Could you build a library of interventions that support both customers and colleagues? • Specialist training: Just as you train for debt support or later life needs, could you train specialist brokers to support neurodivergent customers? • Build knowledge and understanding: in order to create an inclusive environment you need to be prepared to listen, to learn and to think differently. Being curious and listening to others are key components of neuroinclusion. 11 SUMMER PROTECT NEWSLETTER The Opportunity Many of the adjustments that are made to support neurodivergent people benefit everyone for example, clearer communication or allowing more time. The impact of embedding neuroinclusion is beneficial for customers, colleagues and companies alike: • Greater loyalty from customers who feel seen and supported. • Stronger engagement from colleagues who feel valued and understood. • A diverse workplace which challenges stereotypical norms and helps to ensure products and services are truly inclusive. • A culture which embraces, understands and champions neurodiversity.
www.paradigm.co.uk/protection/ 0330 053 6061 [email protected]
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