Specialist urges firms to join GRiD

Former financial freelance journalist Edmund Tirbutt, now an independent healthcare specialist, claimed the protection industry spends too much time lobbying in order to publicise itself.

He said the protection sector should be more like the group risk community, and urged insurance firms to join the trade body Group Risk Development.

Mr Tirbutt added: “The thing that has really struck me about the movers and shakers at GRiD is that they are motivated primarily by a desire to secure progress for the group risk field as a whole and seem entirely devoid of the type of destructive egos that are so much in evidence in the individual protection arena.

“Most of the personalities who worked tirelessly to secure the default retirement age exemption for group risk, for example, seemed intent in remaining anonymous. The individual protection field on the other hand is full of consultants instigating largely pointless initiatives just to publicise themselves.

“Do these same consultants provide input into government consultation papers in the way that they would probably like us to think they are doing? Sadly my sources suggest they do not.”

Peter Chadborn, director of Essex-based IFA Plan Money, said: “Open and healthy debate and expressing opinion is one thing. Starting a public slanging match does the industry no good at all.”