Written by Jennifer Gilchrist, Senior Industry Affairs Manager, Market Units L&H Reinsurance, Swiss Re
Swiss Re’s latest Term & Health Watch provides a clear backdrop to the Iress/IPTF data: the protection market is continuing to evolve, and Income Protection is becoming an increasingly important part of that story. While overall protection sales were broadly softer in 2025, IP continued to show positive momentum, with new sales increasing by 11.9%. The Iress/IPTF findings help explain where the next opportunity may sit.
The Adviser Opportunity
Advisers are already using multi-benefit technology at scale, with menu plans accounting for 67% of all term business. That suggests advisers already have the tools and processes in place to support more rounded protection conversations.
Yet when a menu plan is built, Income Protection is still not included in 75% of cases. That points to a practical opportunity: not necessarily to create a separate conversation, but to broaden the one already happening.
Term assurance remains a familiar and important trigger for protection advice, often linked to major financial commitments such as a mortgage or family security. The data also points to different advice journeys depending on whether the customer is taking out level term or decreasing term cover. But in both cases, those commitments usually depend on one thing continuing: the customer’s income.
That is where the link to Income Protection becomes so relevant. Protecting a mortgage balance or family with a lump sum is important. But customers may also benefit from considering how they would continue to meet regular commitments if illness or injury affected their ability to work.
Income Protection Growth
11.9%
New sales increase
Coverage Gap
75%
Menu Plans without IP
The Iress/IPTF data shows that both level term and decreasing term journeys still leave a high proportion of applications without income resilience. This does not reduce the value of term assurance; it highlights how term and IP can work together as part of a more rounded protection recommendation.
This also aligns with the wider Profile of an IP Customer report, which shows IP applications up 7% overall, multi-benefit IP up 10%, and a market that appears to be skewing younger, with customers engaging earlier in their financial journey.
The message is constructive: the market does not need to start from scratch. Advisers already have established advice processes, technology and customer conversations to build from. The opportunity now is to make income resilience a more consistent part of those discussions.
