Eleos has partnered with household bills platform Homebox to offer life insurance and income protection to renters and home movers.
The partnership will give Eleos access to consumers outside the traditional mortgage advice channel, with protection offered to Homebox users as part of the process of setting up household bills when moving home.
Homebox has supported more than 100,000 home movers and works with over 1,000 letting agent branches across the UK.
The move comes as Eleos has also launched a personalised protection advice service, allowing customers who previously used its digital self-service proposition to speak to an adviser.
REACHING RENTERS
The partnership follows the FCA’s Pure Protection Market Study interim report, published in January, which highlighted renters and young people among consumer groups that may be underserved by the protection market.
The regulator found that 80% of new pure protection policies in 2024 were distributed through intermediaries, with mortgage advisers responsible for 36% of intermediated sales.
Its consumer research also found that 58% of adults with online access did not hold a pure protection product. Of those without cover, 59% had not considered their protection needs.
Eleos said integrating protection into the Homebox moving journey could provide a prompt for renters who might otherwise have limited interaction with the mortgage-led protection advice market.
ADVICE OPTION ADDED
Eleos has previously operated primarily as a digital self-service proposition, supported by AI tools including its digital co-pilot, Theea.
Customers will now also be able to speak to an adviser where they want additional support or have circumstances including medical conditions, complex occupations or non-standard income.
The advice service is supported by a panel of insurers, allowing cases to be placed according to individual circumstances.
Kiruba Eswaran (main picture, inset), Founder and CEO of Eleos, said: “Homebox reaches renters at the point they move, which is exactly the prompt the FCA says this market is missing.
“That fits how we already work, embedding protection into journeys people are completing anyway, and thousands of customers now come to us every month through our partners.
“Putting an expert adviser alongside that extends what we do rather than replaces it.”
Jack Ray, CEO of Homebox, added: “Moving home is a highly stressful moment but also an opportunity for consumers to reflect on whether they have got the right level of cover to help them as their life evolves.
“That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Eleos to be able to offer income protection and life insurance products to our base of home movers.”
