UnderwriteMe revealed that 90% of life cover applications with mental health disclosures were instantly accepted on its protection platform in 2024.
Research found an average of 1.16 disclosures per customer, showing many applicants disclosed existing health or lifestyle conditions that required extra checks.
Demand for bundled protection grew, with 1.4 products per application on average.
The Protection Platform Pulse report showed straight-through processing rates for life cover at 85% and critical illness at 80% for all applications.
Income protection straight-through processing stayed at 62% in both 2023 and 2024.
Andrew Doran, CEO at UnderwriteMe, said: “The Protection Platform continues to offer highly competitive STP rates year-on-year, with Life Cover at 85% and Life Cover with Critical Illness (CI) at 80%, indicating a competitive market where underwriting efficiency is key.
“The slight rising trend in Life Cover and Life with CI submissions signals growing demand for comprehensive coverage solutions.
“Additionally, STP for Income Protection (IP) remain at an average 62%, which is due to IP underwriting being more complex than Life Cover products.”
Doran added: “While the volume of placed applications is important, straight-through processing (STP) rates remain a key measure of efficiency, and a deeper understanding of disclosure trends can drive better outcomes for both advisers and customers.
“In a highly competitive market, where clients expect speed and convenience, high STP rates provide advisers with a significant advantage — streamlining the buying process, improving client satisfaction, and ultimately driving more business growth.”
According to UnderwriteMe, depression, anxiety and stress were the most common health conditions to get instant acceptance across life insurance, critical illness and income protection applications.
The company reported a buy-now decision rate of up to 90% for life insurance applicants with depression, anxiety or stress.
Other buy-now decision rates included 99% for asthma and back pain, 95% for irritable bowel syndrome and hypothyroidism, and 71% for diabetes.
For critical illness cover, the report showed up to 93% buy-now decision rates for depression, anxiety and stress, 99% for asthma and back pain, 90% for raised blood pressure, and 81% for cholesterol.
Tom Conner, strategy development director at Drewberry, said: “Protection advisers know that when a case is referred to underwriting the process can often be long – sometimes many months, which is time consuming and costly.
“In some situations clients lose interest during the underwriting process and contacting them with a higher premium once they’ve lost interest can be a lost cause.
“Protection is not at the top of most peoples’ minds so when they do contact us, we need to be able to deliver solutions as quickly as possible.”
Conner added: “Systems that provide ‘buy-now’ functionality is essential for protection advisers where cases have certain underwriting issues and it’s great to see so many non-standard applications being accepted.”
Doran said: “Over the past year, the life and protection insurance industry has gone through significant shifts.
“From provider mergers to rising living costs, evolving customer expectations, and increasing regulations, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for advisers to navigate a rapidly changing landscape.
“However, the findings in our Protection Platform Pulse Report are a positive sign and highlight not just UnderwriteMe’s strengths but the industry’s move toward more inclusive underwriting.”
Britney Trussler, protection manager at Dynamo, said: “The most common disclosures we encounter include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and mental health conditions and we frequently see a high rate of instant decisions from UnderwriteMe, provided recent medical readings are within normal or slightly elevated ranges.
“This is a significant advantage for advisers who help clients with underwriting issues as we can offer provide cover in the same time frame as those with a clean bill of health.
“Instant decisions for clients with pre-existing conditions significantly reduce the time advisers spend seeking indications from multiple providers, offering immediate reassurance and greater efficiency.”
