22 March 2012
Financial protection insurers, Unum, have announced their intention to withdraw from selling individual income protection products. They will instead concentrate on the employer-paid benefit market.
Unum were previously involved in helping to create the All Work Test (AWT) and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) for incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance. They recently tried to persuade individuals to take out income protection insurance to cover long term sickness. In its marketing of the product Unum referred not only to the low level of sickness benefits but also to the difficulties involved in actually claiming and receiving benefit.
Unum’s Chief Marketing Officer, Marco Forato, explains the decision to stop selling individual protection insurance products as being based on the belief that “the workplace is the best place to get income protection...It makes cover more affordable and also enables individuals with pre-existing conditions or high risk people to get cover they may not be approved for with an individual policy.”
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