Nine in ten brokers admit they don't sell enough protection

L&G is urging advisers to discuss the importance of protection more frequently with clients during and after the mortgage application process, after finding that nearly a third of employees didn’t have any financial back-up plan in place.

The figures follow a recent upgrade of L&G's intermediary case management system, Online Protection Connect, which provides advisers the ability to quote, apply and manage all of their protection cases with Legal & General in one system.

Richard Kateley, head of intermediary protection at Legal & General, commented: “The fact that only one in ten brokers believe their business is selling enough protection is evidence that our industry needs to do more to highlight the importance of protection. However, encouraging your client to discuss this topic is easier said than done when we live in a culture of reactiveness.

"The most successful brokers make protection a core part of the mortgage sale rather than an end of process consideration – and by this point, it is usually too late. We are happy to insure our pets, mobiles, iPad, or valuables yet none of these will pay our mortgage if or when life happens to us. When it comes to prioritising our own health and wellbeing, procrastination seems to come first.

“Our ‘Deadline to Breadline’ research revealed that nearly a third of UK employees have no financial back-up plans should they be unable to work due to an illness, disability or death. Statistics like this cannot be ignored, and brokers are front and centre in this challenge to help clients plan with foresight. At Legal and General we want to use our market position to help close the protection gap, by making protecting the last mortgage you wrote more important than the next mortgage that needs to be arranged.”