In September, the Financial Conduct Authority set out its plan to tackle the UK’s protection gap. The headline finding was stark: around 58% of adults have no life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection at all, and most of them have never even considered whether they need it.
The regulator did not reach for price caps or heavy intervention. It concluded that competition works reasonably well for people who already hold cover, and that the real problem is awareness and a sales process that rarely prompts people to think about protection at the right moment. Its earlier findings named that moment explicitly: completing a mortgage.
The response puts mortgage advisers at the centre. The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has been asked to lead work on improving how advisers discuss protection throughout the advice journey and at different life stages, while an industry consumer awareness campaign targets the groups least likely to buy cover.
For brokers, that is both a responsibility and an opportunity. And it raises a question most firms have not asked: what does your website say about protection before the client ever speaks to you?
The research from this year paints a consistent picture.
Advice works. The problem is that protection is still treated as an afterthought: raised at the end of a long mortgage process, by an adviser who is short of time, to a client who is focused on completion and already feeling stretched.
Look at how protection appears on a typical broker website. There is usually a single “Protection” page, often in a dropdown menu, listing products: life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, buildings and contents. It describes what each product is. It rarely explains why any of it matters to the specific person reading.
Then look at the mortgage pages, where visitors actually spend their time. The first-time buyer page, the remortgage page, the self-employed page. Protection is usually absent, or mentioned in a single line at the bottom.
The result is that clients arrive at their first meeting having read nothing about protection. When it comes up later, it feels like an add-on sale rather than part of the advice. That is precisely the dynamic the regulator wants the industry to change.
The most effective approach is not a better protection page. It is weaving protection into the pages clients already read, so the conversation feels natural before it ever happens.
First-time buyer pages. Add a short, human section: “What happens to the mortgage if one of you can’t work?” Explain in plain English that many households rely on two incomes, and that protecting those incomes is part of a sensible plan. Link to a dedicated explainer.
Remortgage and product transfer pages. Millions of deals are maturing this year and next. A remortgage is a natural moment to check whether existing cover still matches the loan, the family and the household budget. Say so.
Self-employed and contractor pages. These clients often have no employer sick pay and no death-in-service benefit. Income protection matters more to them than almost anyone, and it is rarely mentioned on the pages written for them.
A post-completion page. A page you send every client after completion, congratulating them and inviting a short protection review if it was not covered at the time. Linked from a completion email, it creates a second, calmer moment for the conversation.
A plain-English income protection explainer. Income protection is the most misunderstood and most valuable cover for many households. A clear page on how it works, what waiting periods mean and how it differs from critical illness cover will serve visitors and search engines alike.
Protection content fails when it reads like a sales pitch or a scare story. It succeeds when it reads like care. A few principles help:
Protection is not only good for clients. Income protection sales have been growing, advisers report more protection conversations than a year ago, and a well-structured protection proposition adds recurring value to a broker’s business. Firms that build protection into their website journeys make those conversations easier for every adviser on the team, including newly qualified advisers who may lack the confidence to raise it unprompted.
It also creates evidence. When the regulator asks how protection is introduced in your advice journey, a website that consistently raises it at the right moments is a visible part of the answer.
Heer Digital builds independent mortgage brokers a working homepage prototype at no cost and no obligation. It is a real, clickable page built around your case types, with protection positioned as part of the advice rather than an afterthought. Compare it with your current site and decide for yourself.
If you go ahead, we can deliver it as a fast, low-maintenance site, or as a WordPress build that lets you add protection explainers, post-completion pages and case studies yourself.
The regulator has named the moment. Make sure your website is already having the conversation when it arrives.
Contact Heer Digital for a no-cost, no-obligation homepage prototype for your brokerage.
