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An increasing number of providers are employing varying degrees of tele-underwriting which is causing confusion for advisers, according to the specialist protection arm of the Royal London Group.

By introducing a standardised benchmarking system the insurer hoped advisers would have greater clarity of the level of service being provided.

Roger Edwards, product director for Bright Grey, said tele-underwriting currently meant gathering any information over the telephone.

He said: "For some companies this translates to virtually everything that would be contained in an application form, for example personal, occupational and health details, which are commonly defined in the industry as 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 described 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."

Bright Grey believes the industry should adopt clearer definitions to stop any confusion and that the current terminology should be dropped.

Matt Morris, policy adviser for protection adviser Lifesearch, said there was definitely scope for some sort of standardisation of tele-underwriting definitions.

He said: "Currently there are no guidelines from the Association of British Insurers. It is certainly not the easiest thing to get your head around so clarification can only be a good thing."