Briefing: Sector has long road ahead to ensure inclusivity of vulnerability

Over the last year, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has placed vulnerability at the centre of its thought leadership activity, positioning ourselves as the sector’s convenor on Consumer Duty related insights and good practice.

This has seen us convene five high-profile roundtables events attended by regulators, consumer advocates, sector leaders and experts from other professions. Informed by stakeholder insights, we have produced a white paper, three summary reports, one public continuing professional development (CPD) webinar and two good practice guides, which will be published soon.

It is entirely appropriate that the sector develops provisions to realise the importance of inclusive design in the development and delivery of insurance products and services so that all customers – particularly vulnerable ones – benefit from improvements and actions.

Amongst the vulnerable customers that we have considered are those with mental health and wellbeing issues.

Through our work, the CII has identified that some firms still struggle with defining and identifying vulnerability – despite recognising that, at the point of claim, most customers are in a vulnerable position.

Firms’ own assessments of the proportion of customers presenting as vulnerable are typically much lower than the 47% suggested by the FCA Financial Lives survey from 2022.

Whilst it would appear that there is a long road ahead in ensuring that the principles of inclusive design are properly embedded across the sector, it is not just the customers that we need to be mindful of. We must not forget the needs of those who work in the profession who can also experience wellbeing challenges and mental health issues.

Industry mental health

In a previous article, I touched on the challenges of accessing talent within the profession. This shortage will inevitably contribute to what is already a high pressure working environment, as employees encounter stress when managing heavy workloads exacerbated by the shortage of staff.

Earlier this year, Axis Capital, in partnership with The Harris Poll, conducted research into mental health among insurance employees.

The findings, which were based on interviews with insurance professionals in the US and the UK, identified that 88% of insurance employees acknowledge stress and anxiety as being widespread across the profession, with 77% indicting that they had sought mental health support in the preceding 12 months.

One of the main contributory factors to this was said to be increased workload – and 84% of UK based insurance employees said they experienced an increase in workload, correlating with 82% of UK insurance employees reporting increased stress and anxiety levels.

This increase in pressure and demanding workloads can result in burnout and can impact individual wellbeing alongside organisational productivity. As well as the impact of handling complex tasks and delivering to tight deadlines, the sensitivity of the work carried out can also be a contributory factor.

In 2023, the CII’s Claims New Generation Group published a report on the back of its investigation into the impact on claims professionals of handling distressing claims. The results identified that 80% of respondents had been exposed to traumatic claims, with 50% stating that they had suffered an adverse impact after handling a distressing claim.

Workplace culture

The FCA’s recent survey of over 1,000 wholesale financial services firms found a significant increase in non-financial misconduct allegations between 2021 and 2023, with bullying and harassment (26%) and discrimination (23%) being the most recorded concerns.

This toxic combination of poor workplace culture and existing professional pressures creates a compounding effect that can accelerate burnout and deteriorate mental wellbeing, making it even more crucial for the sector to address both cultural issues and individual support mechanisms as interconnected priorities.

The CII recognises that mental health and wellbeing are vital in underpinning professional performance, organisational resilience and talent retention. Therefore, for September 2025, we have agreed to dedicate all of our regular Professional Community – claims, broking and underwriting – newsletters as Mental Health and Wellbeing Editions.

The newsletters will focus on promoting mental health, emotional resilience and personal wellbeing within the insurance profession.

As part of this initiative, we have planned a campaign of content and activity from 10 September through to 17 October, including webinars, podcasts and articles. We are working with an array of experts to deliver content covering a variety of topics that will provide practical steps that can be taken to enable our members to better manage their wellbeing.

There is clearly a critical balance to be struck in addressing the needs of those within the profession as part of enhancing the delivery to those customers with vulnerabilities and, while lived experience will help to develop capabilities around empathy and understanding, it is essential that the profession pulls together to address what appears to be an increasing risk.