Between 79% and 95% of consumers who dropped out of protection remain open to it, AMI's 2026 Viewpoint study finds
The majority of UK consumers who began exploring protection insurance but did not complete a purchase have not permanently ruled it out, according to early findings from the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries' (AMI) 2026 Protection Viewpoint study.
AMI's research of 3,000 UK consumers found that between 79% and 95% of those who dropped out said something could have changed their decision. The range varies depending on the reason given for not proceeding, but the direction is consistent: the door is rarely closed.
Clients who declined cover once are not lost — they are still retrievable if the conversation is handled well.
What's actually stopping clients from buying?
Cost is often cited first, but timing and product understanding are equally common reasons clients step back. None of these, AMI argues, are fixed obstacles. Each can be addressed within an advice relationship, which is precisely why the protection conversation belongs in the mortgage process rather than after it.
The FCA found that 58% of people do not hold any protection product. Of that group, 59% have never even considered their protection needs.
The regulator named AMI as the trade body to lead cross-industry efforts on adviser engagement with protection. AMI's annual Viewpoint research is cited as the evidence base for that work.
The scale of the problem is not new, but the mandate now is. Mortgage advisers who treat protection as a separate, optional topic risk falling short of both their clients' needs and the regulator's expectations.
When should mortgage advisers raise protection with clients?
The FCA's interim report in January 2026 identified mortgage completion as a natural trigger point for protection conversations. AMI has gone further, calling on the industry to embed those conversations throughout the advice process, not concentrate them at the end of it.
Clients who feel the protection conversation was rushed or formulaic are less likely to engage with it — a pattern advisers recognise across the protection advice journey.
The FCA's decision to enlist mortgage advisers to close the protection gap is a recognition that the intermediary relationship is the most effective lever available. Advisers are, in most cases, the only professional a borrower speaks to about financial risk at the point of taking on a mortgage.
The case for a structured approach
AMI's chief executive, Stephanie Charman (pictured above), said the research shows protection barriers can be addressed rather than accepted. "Cost, confidence, understanding, and timing are all barriers that can be addressed, not fixed points that rule people out for good," she said.
For firms that have taken steps to prioritise protection within their mortgage advice proposition, the AMI data provides a concrete business case. The majority of clients who did not buy protection remain open to it. The advisers best placed to capitalise on that are those who return to the protection advice conversation — at remortgage, at review, or when a client's circumstances change.
