Legal & General has launched a dedicated income protection (IP) adviser hub to help intermediaries support their clients' protection needs.
It includes features such as benefit calculators, helpful guides to IP, as well as other tools and resources to help advisers show the benefits of the product to their customers.
The announcement followed a series of improvements to L&G's offering including sick pay alignment for NHS workers, a free rehabilitation support service and competitive pricing across all occupation classes.
Craig Brown, director for L&G Intermediary, said: "While critical illness cover and life insurance are often the first protection solutions we talk about as an industry, for many customers IP can play a no less important role.
"Our Deadline to Breadline report found that nearly a third of employees didn’t have any financial back-up plans in place. IP could provide a monthly benefit should the client be unable to work due to incapacity caused by illness or injury resulting in a loss of earnings.
"Intermediaries already do a great job of protecting their clients and these changes are designed to help make that process simpler and more effective."
Details of L&G’s Income Protection Benefit plan can be viewed on the Adviser Centre.
Keith Churchouse, chartered financial planner at Guildford-based Chapters Financial, said: "With the recent required focus on advisers to look further at protection planning as part of their ongoing CPD requirements, it is good to see initiatives such as this IP Adviser Hub being created.
"Indeed, I remain surprised that other providers have not achieved this so far, so it is good to see L&G taking a supportive stance for this important business class.
"IP is a growth area and policy types are evolving, as evidenced by these changes and developments of the L&G product features.
"It is good to see this initiative and I hope it is a success and a prompt to other protection providers to offer greater support to advisers."
aamina.zafar@ft.com
