Why we’re giving advisers the final say in our inaugural protection guru awards

After a hectic July, with a flurry of new product announcements, the last week has perhaps felt a little quieter, with many taking the chance to finally get away on holiday. It’s never a quiet week at Protection Guru though and this week we’ve been busy working on our inaugural Protection Guru Awards, that we officially unveiled last Thursday.  

As you may have seen, we’re doing things a little differently to other awards when it comes to our insurer categories; you the advisers get to have the final say. We’re sure this will come as a relief to those who are tasked with writing award entries for the providers, but on a serious note we felt it important that those who are giving the advice day in day out get to decide which insurers receive the awards, by voting for who they feel offers the best protection solutions for their clients.  

Rather than just vote for the best income protection or value-added benefits, we’re instead focusing on different client types, with two categories also covering preventative and rehabilitation support services. This means we can recognise those insurers who do more than simply offer a good core product, but those who excel in actually offering the best cover for the varied types of clients advisers are supporting, from families buying their first home, to business owners running successful companies.   

Whilst advisers can visit our main awards hub and vote at any time in the various categories, we’re also prompting visitors to our site to cast their vote in specific categories, which we’ll vary on a weekly basis. Voting only takes a few seconds and there’s also a chance to share a few words on why you picked your selection.  

Advisers, this is your chance to make your voice heard and have a say on who you feel excels and is worthy of winning one of our prestigious awards. At Protection Guru everything we do has been about supporting the adviser community, helping you to deliver the best advice and giving you access to detailed research analysis. Through our monthly Protection Forum meetings we’ve given advisers a unique platform to share their views with the wider industry. It felt only right therefore that we defer to the expertise and opinion of advisers when it came to judging and having the final say in our first ever awards event.  

We’re grateful to the support as well of our confirmed sponsors, who so far include Aviva, Guardian, Legal & General, Royal London, Scottish Widows, Sesame Bankhall Group and Zurich. There’s plenty more opportunities, so please get in touch.  

Voting and submissions close on Fridy 3rd September, so get voting, submit your entries and we look forward to announcing the winners in October.  

Our regular content on Protection Guru this week started with Amanda Newman Smith’s analysis of Rehab support on income protection plans – how providers compare. On Tuesday Amanda covered Who has the broadest age criteria for relevant life cover?

Following recent product launches from The Exeter and LV=, and improvements from Royal London that cover renters, I returned to the subject of Guaranteed insurability options for renters – how providers compare on Wednesday. This is well worth a read if you wish to familiarise yourself how insurers support these clients and is one of our Protection Guru Award categories.  

On Thursday we looked at How do Royal London’s new children’s critical illness limits compare, following the announcement last week of some improvements to their children’s cover. Meanwhile Emma Iskowitz shared the third instalment in our July Protection Forum follow-up; supporting consumers. Like the first two instalments this really is essential reading/listening for anyone involved with life insurance, wealth or mortgage advice as well as insurers, lenders, investment platforms and pension providers. 

We ended the week with my summary of Age limits on protection insurance – 5 things you should read.   

Over on Benefits Guru, on Tuesday Kat Mitchell asked What is auto-enrolment opt out process?

Thursday’s insight from Kat investigated How pension providers are addressing an international/transient workforce.