Shepherds Friendly has struck an agreement with Primis Mortgage Network to distribute the mutual society’s income protection products.
Primis is home to almost 3,000 mortgage advisers and more than 1,000 mortgage and protection firms across the UK. Membership of the network includes access to protection sourcing platform Novium, which will also distribute Shepherds Friendly’s products under the terms of the deal.
A survey of 2,000 people carried out for Shepherds Friendly last October suggested that many households do not take out protection when they sign up to a mortgage. The survey revealed that just 14% of adults working full-time in the UK had income protection. Of those who didn’t have a policy in place, 48% had a mortgage.
Phil Nash, chief sales officer at Shepherds Friendly, said: “For many households, a mortgage is the biggest single monthly expense, yet many have no protection in place to ensure they will be able to continue to cover that expense if they are unable to work due to illness or accident.
“We believe one of the best ways to change this is by raising it with people at the point they take out a mortgage, and partnering with Primis and Novium seemed a clear way to make this happen. We hope together we can increase consumers’ access to suitable income protection and improve their financial resilience.”
Craig Hall, director of strategic partnerships at Primis, said: “We’re excited to have Shepherds Friendly join our platform. Its income protection product offers some unique features that make it particularly suitable for younger people. In fact, it’s young people who are often the most exposed to financial shocks when taking out their first mortgage.
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“At Primis, we are determined to increase the number of people in the UK who have the right protection in place to cover their mortgage debt. Shepherds Friendly shares our goal and working together will take us one step closer to achieving that.”
A recent consumer survey found that more than a quarter of homeowners wrongly believed that income protection insurance did not cover mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, which put households off taking out the cover.