"It’s simply not true that joint policies are significantly cheaper – any cost difference is minimal, while the benefits of tailored, individual plans are far greater and deliver better outcomes for the customer."
- Emma Vaughan, Head of Protection & Health Solutions at SimplyBiz
CIExpert believes joint life first event protection plans are “largely obsolete in today’s world, delivering inferior consumer outcomes and lower levels of fair value. Consumer Duty-based compliance processes should default to recommending two single plans for couples and advisers should be required to justify any recommendation of joint policies, clearly outlining the benefits that clients may forgo with the ‘cheaper’ option.”
Therefore, CIExpert has asked industry colleagues to pledge their support by advocating and actively encouraging the recommendation of single policies. As part of this campaign, CIExpert has published a report to raise awareness and address the common objection that a joint policy can be cheaper, with data obtained by Iress analysing over 300k quotes.
CIExpert’s campaign already has the support of Johnny Timpson OBE, Jeff Prestridge, Roy McLoughlin, Vicky Churcher, Neil McCarthy, Emma Thomson, Tony Mudd, Phil Cleverley, Steve Casey, Christine Husbands, David Mead, Emma Vaughan, Ruth Gilbert, Kevin Carr, Peter LeBeau, Roger Edwards, and Paul Reed.
“We strongly believe an industry shift is needed to prevent consumers from holding suboptimal policies for marginal savings. There are very few instances where joint life plans can deliver a better customer outcome than two individual plans,” explained Alan Lakey, Director at CIExpert.
He said: “It’s clear that whether intended or not, many compliance processes put the emphasis on explaining why the cheaper option isn’t being recommended and becomes an additional hurdle for advisers. Last year, in a meeting with the Financial Ombudsman Service, this was one of the examples that we shared with them to test their view.
“They were clear that they didn’t favour cost over value as long as the suitability letter reflected the clients being given a choice and confirmation that a discussion took place, and the clients were agreeable to single life plans.
“We have already received support from key figures in the industry, and we now want to reach further and ask more advisers, firms, and networks to sign up to our ‘single is best’ pledge. By adding their name, they will join a growing number of advisers who believe their individual Life & Critical Illness (CI) policies should be the default choice for couples,” he added.
Tony Mudd, Divisional Director of Development & Technical Consultancy at St James’s Place, stressed “While there are few absolutes in life and almost always exceptions such that going with ‘single is always best’ could invite, may I say pedantic criticism, single over joint should at the very least be the default position.
“Congratulations to CIExpert for producing such a compelling document evidencing all the reasons why individual plans deliver quality-based consumer outcome-focused comprehensive protection portfolios for individuals and modern families,” he said.
Emma Vaughan, Head of Protection & Health Solutions at SimplyBiz, agreed: “CIExpert’s new campaign is a fantastic initiative that underscores the importance of addressing each person’s protection needs individually, rather than combining them for convenience or because of outdated cost assumptions.
“It’s simply not true that joint policies are significantly cheaper – any cost difference is minimal, while the benefits of tailored, individual plans are far greater and deliver better outcomes for the customer. It’s great that CIExpert is shining a light on this issue, and I’m fully behind the campaign,” she concluded.
To learn more about CIExpert’s campaign, follow the link here
