Life cover applied for, and then silence
The adviser has recommended life and critical illness cover and the application is in. The insurer asks for a GP report. Then a nurse screening. Then a follow-up question about a condition the client mentioned. Each requirement is posted in the insurer's adviser portal or emailed, and some go directly to the client.
The client has not booked the nurse appointment because they did not realise they had to. The GP surgery has not replied. The adviser, meanwhile, is working on other cases and only notices when the client asks whether they are covered yet.
Why protection cases go quiet
Underwriting runs on the insurer's timetable and involves third parties the firm cannot control, like GP surgeries and screening companies. That part is out of your hands. But the firm often lacks a single view of what each case is waiting for, and who needs to act.
- Requirements appear in insurer portals that need logging into.
- Some requests go to the client directly and are not followed up.
- GP reports can take a long time and need periodic chasing.
- Decisions and changes to terms arrive without a prompt to the adviser.
- Cases with several insurers quoted are hard to keep straight.
Clients do not always understand the process either. Many assume that once the form is signed, the cover has started. When a nurse screening company phones to book an appointment, the client may not connect it with the application, and the call goes unanswered while the case waits.
The cost of stalled underwriting
| Stall point | Effect |
|---|---|
| Nurse screening not booked | Case waits until client is reminded |
| GP report outstanding | Case waits, often without anyone chasing |
| Additional question unanswered | Case paused at the insurer |
| Revised terms offered | Client not contacted promptly |
| Cover starting later than expected | Client assumes they are covered when they are not |
The last row is the one that worries advisers most. A client who thinks cover is in force when the case is still in underwriting is a real risk to them, and the firm needs to know exactly where each case stands.
The underwriting tracker we build
- Each protection case is logged with insurer, product, lives assured and adviser, from your back office or at submission.
- Requirements are recorded against the case as they arrive, from insurer emails read automatically or from portal data where the insurer offers a permitted route.
- Each requirement has an owner: the client, the GP surgery, the screening company, the adviser or the office.
- Clients receive clear messages telling them what they need to do, such as booking a screening, with a reminder if they have not.
- Third-party requirements such as GP reports have chase dates, and tasks are created for the office when they pass.
- Decisions, postponements and terms changes alert the adviser immediately, so the client can be contacted.
- A board shows all protection cases by stage, oldest requirement first.
After it is in place
Advisers see which of their cases are waiting and on whom. Clients know what they need to do and when. The office chases GP reports on a schedule. When terms come back, the adviser hears about it that day, not when the client rings. And nobody is left unsure whether a client is covered.
The office also learns where cases usually wait: which surgeries are slow to respond, which requirements come up most often for which insurers. That knowledge helps advisers set clients' expectations at the point of application, which reduces worried calls later.
Signs your protection pipeline needs this
- Advisers log into several insurer portals to check cases.
- Clients miss requirements because nobody reminded them.
- GP reports are chased irregularly.
- Revised terms are found days after they arrive.
- You cannot list all protection cases in underwriting today.