The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has surveyed members across health, protection and travel insurance to understand how the industry’s Mental Health and Insurance Standards have been implemented by firms. The findings of the survey are published in a new report.
The Standards were launched in September 2020 to better support the needs of people with prior or existing mental health conditions when applying for insurance, and to drive consistency and best practice across the three insurance lines. 22 ABI members provided feedback showing progress has been made across all areas of the Standards, although work continues to ensure customers have the best support possible.
The four areas are:
Improving accessibility through better communication, processes, and staff training;
Asking appropriate questions in the application process;
Communicating and explaining decisions and cover with clarity and empathy; and
Improving transparency.
The findings show that all firms surveyed have taken steps to improve the accessibility of their communications, such as offering customers different choices of how to contact them. 94% of firms said that, on a customer’s request, they explain what evidence is used to inform the underwriting approach. 88% of respondents said they include an introduction in their underwriting questions to manage consumer expectations and the remaining 12% confirmed they had taken alternative actions to help with this. 81% of firms surveyed also said they regularly review written and verbal communications about underwriting decisions and make mental health exclusions highly prominent in policy documents and any relevant communications. These figures are slightly lower because travel insurers generally don’t exclude any mental or physical conditions from their products and often use a third-party to assess and communicate underwriting decisions on pre-existing health conditions.
Alongside the Standards, we launched a free mental health e-learning course for advisers and front-line staff. We developed this CII accredited course in collaboration with Rightsteps, employee and wellbeing specialists, to improve understanding of mental health conditions for staff who speak to customers in their everyday roles. So far, 2,323 people have completed 6,159 courses. When we launched the online platform in 2021, our ambition was to train 5,000 people. The free training will therefore continue for another year to help more advisers and front-line staff improve their awareness and knowledge in this important area.
Alongside encouraging greater take up of the course, we’ll continue working with members, mental health charities and advocates to understand what further action is required to drive positive change.
Yvonne Braun, Director of Health and Protection Policy, ABI, said: “Our industry wants to make it straightforward for customers with mental health conditions to access its products, and it’s good to see that our members have made progress. The industry still has more work to do though, and we’re committed to working with firms and mental health experts to drive this forward.”
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