Enter the 2025 COVER Customer Care Awards

Intermediaries are the first point of contact for many clients. In order to grow the market and create the best customer outcomes possible, providers must work with intermediaries.

This category will decide which team within a protection insurer provider has excelled in offering the best overall support to intermediaries to get clients the best possible service and outcomes.

Protection promotion has become a critical part of the overall proposition and marketing plays a key role in getting the message across to consumers. Which insurance provider has the best marketing team that consistently puts the customer at the heart of their messaging?

A claim is the critical deliverable for protection products, consumers and advisers rely on providers to be able to process claims in a timely fashion and with a high degree of accuracy.

This category will judge which provider is providing the best level of service at point of claim and is able to handle claims efficiently and provide the best consumer outcomes.

Underwriting practises must always be evolving to keep pace with changing consumer behaviours and needs, particularly in a fast-moving economically challenged and health-focused world. Which team within an insurance provider is adapting its underwriting approach to ensure more people can get the right cover?

The protection and health market is increasingly competitive, with established insurers and up-and-coming providers vying for market share. In this landscape, business development is crucial to standing out from the crowd.

Which business development team embodies the ideals of exceptional customer care?

Case studies are an opportunity for protection and health insurance providers to demonstrate how their offering, from underwriting right through to claim pay outs. Which provider is able to demonstrate outstanding service and results for clients?

Working towards achieving good customer outcomes involves more than a great product, how teams interact with consumers at the point of claim and beyond makes all the difference.

Which insurance provider offers customer care and support that truly makes a difference to advisers and their clients, going the extra mile to ensure that customers are receiving the best possible experience from protection and health cover?

Technology has become an intrinsic part of protection and health insurance offerings, from data to communications channels. Which protection and health insurance provider has adopted technology as a means to improve their operations relating to how customers are treated?

Value added benefits have quickly become a key component of the overall protection and health insurance proposition and in many cases, a differentiator. Which added-value third party provider offers the best service to customers and is most useful to advisers as well as the end customer?

Which collaboration has furthered the offering of a protection and health insurance provider to new heights of customer care excellence? We are looking for new partnerships or collaborations between insurance providers and firms such as support or service providers, technology specialists or networks that can clearly demonstrate a positive impact for customer outcomes.

Insurance providers are increasingly responsible for support not just physical health, but mental health. With younger generations and employers keenly aware of the impact of poor mental wellbeing – insurers look to invest in support services for their clients. Which insurer provides the best wellbeing support service for either its individual or group customers. This could be in the form of a partnership with a third-party provider or support services built-into new or existing products.

Examples of wellbeing support include: therapy, counselling, pathways, rehabilitation and signposting through corporate schemes, as well as technology and EAP solutions.

Which insurance provider has developed the best health and wellness offering for members of protection and health policies (group/individual)? This can include the use of added-value health services, wellness apps, EAP and health & fitness campaigns raising awareness in the workplace. Rehabilitation - help back to work - is also relevant too.

The protection and health industry is packed full of inspiring leaders, is there a person the industry looks to spearhead the pace of change?

This person would be leading key change in the market, be it on the government level, within their own organisation or alongside industry associations and action groups.

Which individual within an insurance provider offers the truly outstanding support to advisers? Please give an insight into what you do, as someone working for a provider, to give personal, hands-on support to advisers - what makes you stand out as an intermediary support champion?

New talent entering the insurer/provider sphere is key for continued innovation. We want to hear about newcomers who are impressing in the sector and are displaying a promising future.

Entrants must have less than three years’ experience at an insurer/provider. Entrants are not restricted by age and can have held positions at intermediaries prior to their experience for an insurer/provider.

The protection and health insurance industry boasts a huge cadre of talent. Which individual within an insurer is the one that provides truly excellent customer care that really makes a difference to advisers and their clients?