As we kick off this month’s ‘In Focus‘ series across New Insurance & Protection, we’re exploring one of the sector’s most important long-term priorities: engaging younger generations. While awareness of insurance and protection has grown in recent years, many younger people remain underinsured or underestimate the financial impact that illness, injury or loss of income can have.
What does the insurance and protection sector need to do differently to better connect with younger audiences?
We asked industry experts to share their perspectives on the challenges, opportunities and practical steps that could help shape the future of protection.
“With fewer people following traditional milestones and groups like single and dual income households without children becoming a large part of the population, the industry needs to think about how we communicate.
To better engage the younger generations, we need to look beyond the marketing. This means looking at the products, customer experience and the messaging to ensure they reflect modern lives. Having diverse teams that understand different life stages is critical to making income protection feel relevant and accessible. If people can see themselves in the products, the messaging, and the people behind them, they’re far more likely to engage and recognise the real value protection can offer.”
Shelley Walker, Head of Marketing at The Exeter
“There are several points to consider with this. Firstly, we need to look at how we reach a younger audience at earlier trigger points. With people having children, buying homes, and getting a mortgage later in life, more people are renting and it’s pushing the age people think about protection back. So what is the new trigger point – does it mean employers, universities or even parents, for example, have a bigger role to play in helping younger people understand how they can protect their lives from a younger age?
We also need to ensure the way consumers buy protection products is moving with the times. This means distributors need to evolve so that people can digitally make more informed decisions, based on more than just price, and where you can understand a range of products available in the market in one place. This will help with consumers wanting more digital methods for purchasing, like in other industries. Gen Z want easy online access to products and services. When it comes to seeking advice, news, and opinions, they are using platforms such as TikTok. However, we need a way to ensure that the information is regulated and accurate and can therefore be found by younger people online through a medium they are using every day as a search tool.
It’s also great news that schools are introducing financial education into the national curriculum in September 2026. This feels like an ideal opportunity to start discussing the concept of financial safety nets and protection in a straightforward, jargon-free way at a young age.”
Beth Southcott, Senior Marketing Executive at UnderwriteMe
“To better engage younger generations, the protection industry needs to change both what it says and when it says it. As someone in Gen Z, I don’t see a lack of interest, but I do see a lack of relevance. A lot of messaging still centres on big life events like marriage or buying a home, but those aren’t happening in the same way or at the same time for this generation.
If protection is going to connect, it needs to show up in real, everyday moments. Starting a new job, renting, picking up freelance work, side-hustles, or just managing money through pots or investments on platforms like Monzo. These are the points where people are already thinking about money and risk.
The way we communicate matters just as much. Long explanations and jargon don’t work. What does work is simple, clear prompts – small, timely nudges that fit naturally into the journeys, experiences and platforms that people like me are already on. And while younger people are comfortable finding their own way, that doesn’t mean we don’t want human help.
The key is having a quick chat (function) or a sense-check available when we need it – a blended journey where people can move between digital, self-serve and adviser support – easy to access and on our terms.
When protection feels relevant, simple, from trusted sources and part of everyday decisions, younger people are far more likely to engage with it. How hard can that be?”
Rebecca Campbell, Account Director at protection advice specialist, LifeSearch
“To better engage younger generations, protection products need to feel simple and relevant to modern lifestyles. Clear and affordable entry points, easy to understand and accessible products can help make protection more approachable for younger consumers.
Younger consumers are increasingly looking for products that deliver value beyond the point of claim. Benefits such as access to online GP services, mental health support and dental assistance can help demonstrate value from day one, rather than only at the point of claim. This helps create a stronger connection with customers throughout the life of their policy, allowing their protection to evolve with them.
Our ‘Bruised Britain #2: The Mishap Gap’ report found that 81% of Gen Z and 84% of Millennials would expect an adviser to discuss protecting their income from everyday accidents as well as illness and loss of life as part of a discussion on their protection needs. It also found that over half (56%) of Millennials who said they were interested in IP would consider a policy that only covered them for accidents if it was available at a lower price.
At National Friendly, this thinking has shaped the development of solutions that are accessible, affordable and flexible to be attractive to younger consumers too – such as Friendly Shield and Accident Only Income Protection – supported by value-added benefits such as Friendly Dentist, designed to help customers throughout their protection journey.”
Oliver Jones, Commercial Director at National Friendly
“To engage younger employees more effectively, the insurance and protection sector – working through employers – needs to move from a product-focused approach to one based on everyday experience. When younger employees join a company, the protection benefits should be embedded seamlessly within the onboarding process, including financial wellbeing and reward platforms, rather than being positioned as complex, standalone decisions about each benefit. By using simple language and relatable scenarios – such as covering rent, student debt or loss of income – employers can make protection feel relevant to real life. Short-form content, digital tools and personalised insights can bring the value of cover to life in ways that resonate far more than traditional communications such as product guides.
“Employers also play a crucial role in normalising protection through trust and accessibility. Default enrolment into core cover, combined with employer-funded benefits and flexible options to increase protection, reduces inertia and demonstrates tangible value. Framing protection as part of a broader financial wellbeing strategy – alongside savings, debt support and mental health – aligns better with younger workers’ priorities and encourages engagement. This is particularly true now that so many protection benefits include wider health and wellbeing support services.
Finally, engagement must be continuous, not annual. Using digital nudges, life-stage prompts and flexible, modular benefits allows protection to evolve with changing needs, keeping it visible, relevant and easy to act on throughout an employee’s journey.”
David Williams, head of group risk at Everywhen
“One of the challenges facing the protection sector is that many younger people do not consider protection until a significant life event prompts the conversation. Purchasing a property, starting a family or establishing a business often become the trigger, despite financial vulnerability existing long before these milestones are reached.
The industry has an opportunity to change how protection is discussed. Rather than leading with products, the conversation should focus on financial resilience and the role protection plays in supporting long-term plans when circumstances change unexpectedly.
Protection should form part of wider financial planning from an earlier stage. Income, future earning potential and growing financial commitments are often a person’s greatest assets, yet they are frequently overlooked when considering financial security.
Communication also needs to reflect how younger generations engage with financial information. Clear explanations, practical examples and straightforward language are more likely to encourage meaningful conversations than technical descriptions of policy features.
By making protection relevant to real-life circumstances rather than presenting it as a product purchase, advisers can help more people understand its value and make informed decisions that support their long-term financial wellbeing.”
Ken Maxwell, Director, JLHO
“It is often assumed that younger generations are disengaged from protection. In reality, the picture is more nuanced. Interest is there, but traditional ways of talking about protection do not always resonate.
Much of the industry’s messaging has historically focused on worst-case scenarios or the long-term nature of a policy. For younger customers, that can feel distant. Many are more focused on what financial decisions mean for them today, with less consideration for what it could offer longer-term.
That creates a meaningful opportunity for the sector. Protection already aligns closely with the priorities facing people in their 20s and 30s, from maintaining financial stability to feeling confident taking on commitments like a mortgage or starting a family. When protection is brought into a broader financial wellbeing conversation, alongside savings, debt and day-to-day resilience, its relevance becomes clearer and more tangible, rather than something to consider much later in life.
At Vitality, the link between protection and health is central to how we work. When customers can see that connection clearly – that their cover is actively tied to their health and how they live – engagement follows. Our incentive-based model is built on this: encouraging healthier behaviours, rewarding progress, and in doing so, helping people live better now while improving their long-term health outcomes. In doing so, we find insurance becomes part of everyday life, not a policy gathering dust in a drawer.
The insight here is not about reinventing protection; rather, the opportunity lies in how their value is communicated. By framing protection around life as it’s actually lived -income, health, resilience, the goals people are working towards right now – the relevance to younger customers becomes far easier to demonstrate. This is how the sector will build lasting engagement with a generation that may at times have felt unreachable.”
Justin Garbutt, Director of IFA Distribution at Vitality
“The first step is increasing awareness among younger consumers. In a survey Shepherds Friendly carried out last year, we found younger generations were the least aware of how income protection works. Of those aged between 18 and 24, 46% said they don’t know what income protection is, and 45% thought it covered redundancy.
To boost their knowledge, the insurance and protection industry needs to deliver information the way younger people want it delivered. While social media and online reviews/testimonials may not have been priorities in the past, they need to be now if advisers want to connect with today’s youngest generations.
We must also align with their desire for convenient, simple and seamless experiences; Gen Z are digital natives and lengthy documents don’t land well with them. Insurtech companies in other areas of the insurance space have come up with products and methods that have resonated with younger consumers and there’s no reason the protection industry can’t do the same.
The same goes for policy add-ons – digital extras such as 24/7 virtual GP services, which help them fit their health needs around early-stage career positions, are key.
The good news is that if we get the approach and product right, there’s a highly receptive customer base – various recent studies, including last year’s FCA Pure Protection Market Study, point to promising levels of interest in protection products among the under-35s. This suggests if we can reach more of them, we can also protect more of them.”
Phil Nash, chief sales officer, Shepherds Friendly
“First, the industry needs to step up its efforts to advocate for financial education in schools. Many people never hear about it until they come to buy a house. With the average age of first-time buyers now in the mid-30s, people are well into their careers before the subject is even on their radar. For those unable to get on the property ladder, they may never hear about protection at all, leaving themselves financially exposed.
Additionally, we need to use simple, everyday language. We must find ways to describe what protection is and what it does in terms that everyone can understand. As attention spans get shorter, this is vital to grab the attention of younger people.
We need to take this compelling message to where young people are – social media. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok are the go-to sites for this generation. Drawing on the experience of employees like me, who are part of this generation, will help us create content that both resonates with younger people and feels authentic.”
Jade Rodgers, Marketing Executive at Cirencester Friendly
“How do we better demonstrate the relevance of insurance and protection? By showing how it enables the lives people want to live, building confidence along the way. That means reframing cover as a tool for freedom and resilience – supporting life’s twists and turns, from career breaks and side hustles to home ownership and financial independence – rather than something bought purely “just in case.” It also demands a real step change in simplicity. If products and language can’t be understood in minutes, they simply won’t be engaged with.
Digital experience is non-negotiable. Younger customers expect seamless, mobile-first journeys, transparent pricing, and the flexibility to adapt cover as their lives evolve. Protection also needs to show up within the ecosystems they already use – through employers, fintech platforms and everyday financial apps – helping to build awareness of the role of advice and financial protection.
The industry can also do more to build trust by sharing real claims outcomes, real stories, and being clear about limitations. Ultimately, success will come from making protection feel like a natural, valuable part of modern life – not a distant afterthought.”
Claire Kelly, Proposition & Marketing Director at British Friendly
“The group risk protection industry could focus more on encouraging employers who only provide protection benefits to senior staff or executives to extend these “exec only” arrangements to their wider workforce.
This can benefit employers in several ways:
– Everyone, no matter their age, needs to protect their financial position should the worst happen. It could be argued that younger employees – especially those renting – have a greater need for protection benefits than execs who are more likely to be in a stronger financial position.
– When employers are seen as inclusive, it can directly support recruitment and retention
– By including younger employees, the cost per head can be dramatically reduced and the cover can be even cheaper overall.
– This approach gives an employer the opportunity to demonstrate they care about the whole of their workforce, communications can be worded to ensure the value of protection is put first and foremost, thus improving understanding.
– The group risk industry has invested significantly in the added value benefits within group risk; when this is promoted, the support for physical and mental health and wellbeing is a tangible benefit for both employees and employers.
This approach can also create further demand as younger employees tell their friends about their improved benefits, who may ask questions of their employer, prompting more employers to explore offering these benefits too.”
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson Group Risk Development (GRiD)
