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Specialist protection provider Bright Grey has demanded a stricter definition of tele-underwriting to protect advisers.

The Royal London Group business has warned IFAs who insist on this point that their protection clients could be getting varied amounts of information depending on the provider.

Roger Edwards, product director for Bright Grey, said: "At the moment companies use the term tele-underwriting to mean gathering any amount of information over the phone.

"For some companies this translates to virtually everything that would be contained in an application form, ie. the personal, occupational and health details, which is commonly defined in the industry as the big-T.

"For others it is just health questions they gather on the phone, referred to as little-t. Then there are some who simply follow up specific disclosures made on a traditional application form with a few questions over the phone, which presumably would be referred to as tiny-t.

"The problem is at the moment the whole spectrum is collectively referred to as tele-underwriting. for those advisers who are beginning to place tele underwriting as a prerequisite for doing business with a provider it can be difficult to compare exactly what each provider offers."

Matt Morris, a policy adviser for Life Search, said he was not aware of much confusion over the issue but agreed with introducing a standard definition.

He said: "Anything that can be done to introduce clarity would be good."