"County Durham borrowers more likely to have protection than those in Chelsea"

Brokers and protection specialists have shared their insights on protection, especially on how and when advice should be provided, as well as the cases where one gets to overlook it, such as busier times and mortgages being bigger in some regions.

A Newspage report has gathered the insights of protection specialists on the subject. One suggested that towns and cities in the UK where property values were lower tended to have protection.

“In my experience, a local mortgage broker in Consett (County Durham) is much more likely to look to protect their client than one in Chelsea, just because of the income generated by the mortgage,” said Dave Corbett, head of protection at Protection 1st. “Consumer duty will hopefully level this out as will some of the more innovative training available to advisers on the skills required to write decent protection. Market conditions like we have currently will always see a spike in conversion, but imagine the number of clients that would be protected if more advisers were protection ‘match-fit’ when the mortgage market slows.”

Ranald Mitchell, director at Charwin Private Clients, said Consumer Duty could become the reason for this propensity to change. “Brokers are duty-bound to prevent foreseeable harm under the new Consumer Duty rules and protecting customers from identifiable, vulnerable positions should be part of the conversation no matter how busy they are,” said Mitchell. “By simply addressing these shortfalls, protection sales will increase and clients can make conscious decisions about what risks they wish to cover, and which ones they will take the chance on.”

Rhys Schofield, brand director at Peak Mortgages and Protection, emphasised the importance of discipline. “A good broker always makes protection a key part of their process right from the first appointment,” said Schofield. “Ultimately it comes down to being disciplined with how you conduct business and being big enough to pass on additional cases once you've hit the number of new cases you can handle in a month.”

Scott Taylor-Barr, financial adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management, noted market conditions could have an impact on protection activity. “During a really busy period, especially with lots of rate volatility and more so when those rates are increasing, securing mortgage deals will take precedence for that period,” said Taylor-Barr. “For those who don't properly engage with protection with their clients, I would urge them to have a referral partnership with a protection specialist.”

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