Closing the beneficiary gap: Helping protection reach the right people

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Overview

Putting the right protection in place is only part of the job. We also need to consider what happens when that policy eventually pays out, and whether the benefit reaches the people the customer intended, in the way they expected.

Join Gregor Sked, Senior Protection Technical Manager at Royal London, and Ron Wheatcroft, Technical Manager at Swiss Re, as they explore the “beneficiary gap” and what it tells us about how protection is being put in place across the market.

Drawing on insights from Royal London and Swiss Re, the discussion will consider why so many protection policies still have no clear direction for death benefits, despite the growing use of trusts and beneficiary nomination. Swiss Re estimates that 63.6% of new single own-life policies in 2025 had no direction of death benefits, even after trust and beneficiary nomination uptake is taken into account.

Learning outcomes

1. Explain the beneficiary gap and why the direction of protection benefits is an important consideration when setting up and reviewing protection arrangements.
   
   
2. Compare the role of trusts and beneficiary nomination in directing life insurance benefits and recognise how different approaches can help support the customer’s intended outcome.
   
   
3. Identify practical ways advisers, insurers and distributors can help reduce the beneficiary gap, through better customer conversations, simpler processes and greater consideration of benefit direction across both new and existing protection business.