For years, the protection market has assumed that younger adults are less engaged with financial risk planning. Yet the latest findings from Bruised Britain #2 show a very different reality. Younger consumers are not only aware of their vulnerability, but they are also often more attuned to it than older generations.
And in a landscape shaped by Consumer Duty, there is a growing pressure on the sector to demonstrate clear, fair value in ways younger consumers can immediately recognise. This suggests an opportunity: the challenge now is ensuring the industry can meet their needs in ways that align with how this generation prefers to engage.
ACCIDENTS AREN’T RARE
In the past three years, nearly a third of UK adults (29%) have had an accident that led to time off work. That’s the equivalent of almost 16 million people. These are not rare events, and the financial consequences are meaningful – the average Briton loses 11.5 workdays after an accident, equating to around £1,674 in lost earnings.
These risks land hardest on younger workers, who are more likely to rely on income from flexible work, have smaller buffers and face higher living costs.
What’s more, younger adults are not sleepwalking into these risks. They recognise them. One in four Gen Zs (24%) say they believe they are more likely than average to suffer a mishap, and Millennials share similar levels of concern.
Their worries aren’t unfounded – 71% of under-35s who had an accident had to take unplanned time off work, far higher than older age groups. These are people already living close to financial instability who are acutely aware of how disruptive even a minor accident can be.
CHALLENGES
The challenge is that while their risk awareness is growing, the insurance experience hasn’t caught up. The industry still tends to assume that protection conversations will happen around mortgages, dependants or life-stage milestones that many under-35s have yet to reach or are reaching far later.
Meanwhile, their actual triggers are far more every day, such as moving into a rental property, picking up a side-gig, or simply seeing a peer on social media suffer an unexpected setback.
This mismatch is clear in the Bruised Britain#2 report’s protection ownership findings. Younger demographics are far more open to cover than the narrative suggests. 9% of Gen Zs and 14% of Millennials have owned Income Protection, compared with negligible levels among Baby Boomers.
They are also more likely to claim (44% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennials who own a protection policy have made a claim). In other words, these products are not abstract ideas to them, they are practical tools they actually use.
OUTDATED JOURNEYS
But when these consumers actively look for cover, they encounter journeys that feel outdated: lengthy underwriting and blanket risk approaches that don’t reflect their lifestyles, all of which increase the risk of non-disclosure at a time when insurers are reporting rising issues in this area.
Even advisers at our recent industry roundtable noted that advice journeys have elongated while younger consumers expect simplicity and immediacy. It isn’t that they reject advice, they reject friction.
Language plays its part too. There is a disconnect between the terminology the industry uses and its understanding by consumers. Affordability perceptions remain another hurdle. Consumers estimate Accident Only cover to cost around £28 per month, and 39% of Gen Zs and 34% of Millennials think that is too expensive.
Yet at the same time, menu-style, build-your-own products resonate strongly across demographics, with 71% of Gen Zs and 75% of Millennials saying customised accident cover is appealing.
OPENNESS
The opportunity here is enormous. This is a generation that is financially exposed yet highly aware of the risks they face. They are open to modern forms of protection, particularly those that feel relevant, flexible and easy to understand. They are more likely to have claimed on a policy than older consumers, and more likely to perceive insurance as a practical way to stabilise their finances.
However, they need an industry willing to modernise. That means journeys that respect their time, products that speak their language, pricing and eligibility that feel proportionate, and advisers who can meet them at the moments that matter, not just the milestones that used to matter.
Younger consumers are ready to engage. The question now is whether the protection industry is prepared to meet them with the simplicity, clarity and relevance they’re already calling for.
This generation isn’t rejecting protection; they’re asking for a version of it that fits the way they live.
