Briefing: Sector-wide PR facelift could contribute to futureproofing skills and talent

Last month (April 2025), independent membership body the Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) published a report entitled Positive progress: Skills for the future of financial services 2025.

Based on research it had conducted, the report highlighted the skills needed across the financial services sector to drive future success and fuel sustainable growth.

While the member led group acknowledged that the Labour government’s industrial strategy had identified financial services as one of eight growth sectors, the report also found that the demand for critical skills across the sector comfortably outstripped supply.

This echoed the findings of a 2024 Department for Education report, which identified that the finance and insurance industry has the highest proportion of in demand occupations across the total industry workforce (69.4%).

This dynamic is not a new challenge for the insurance profession, which has struggled to attract talent for many years.

The reasons behind this are not straightforward – although the image of the profession is an undoubted barrier, one element that has more recently exacerbated the talent challenge is developments in technology that has resulted in changes to the skills required.

Aviva’s 2023 Risk Insights Report suggested that a “shortage of skilled workers is the second biggest risk to UK companies”.

Attracting and retaining talent is critical to the future success of insurance because it underpins the ability for businesses to respond to the profound changes reshaping the sector.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ October 2024 report, entitled Insurance 2025 and Beyond, identified that there are five trends affecting the sector. These include a widening trust gap, evolving customer needs, digital acceleration, climate risk and market dynamics, such as consolidation and competition.

These five trends demand specific skills, adaptability and innovation that only a talented workforce can provide. Yet, the insurance sector faces a growing talent gap – worsened by retiring senior professionals.

It is commonplace that people fall into insurance rather than choosing it for a career. This is a growing problem for attracting talent, especially when competing with other better understood careers or what might be perceived to be more exciting opportunities.

Insurance needs a public relations facelift to overcome the perception of it being traditional and reveal a dynamic, impactful and diverse sector.

At the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), we have recently expanded our initiatives to help build awareness among school children of insurance as a potential career option. This work includes providing virtual work experience programmes and campaigns such as Discover Risk, which includes a 90-minute workshop.

The aim here is to attract younger talent by highlighting the sector’s purpose – supporting resilience and driving societal good – as well as showcasing the diverse and rewarding career pathways that exist.

Singing from the same skills hymn sheet

However, it is as important to help talented individuals shape their careers once they’ve started down our professional path as it is to encourage them to join the sector in the first place.

That’s why the CII launched its Professional Map in 2022. This is a competency framework, career development tool and international benchmark for excellence in the insurance and personal finance professions. It sets out the behaviours and technical expertise at the heart of what it means to be a well rounded professional today.

The self-assessment tool associated with the map provides users with a simple understanding of their professional development needs. In turn, employers are then able to ensure that the right competencies are in place at all levels and functions of their business.

In this way, individuals and firms can share the same language – with firms able to articulate the skills they are seeking in any role they want to fill and individuals able to explain how they measure up.

The aforementioned FSSC report indicated that the financial services sector is now recognised as the most advanced in skills-based training. It added that demand for technical skills has remained steady, suggesting that there has been a positive impact of reskilling and upskilling by businesses in the sector.

However, demand for behaviour skills has increased, with particular growth areas being creative thinking, adaptability and relationship management.

Insurance firms can shape the future workforce through a balance of harnessing new talent generated by early career programmes and an improved approach to talent retention through upskilling and reskilling the existing workforce.

The government announced in 2024 its plans to reposition the apprenticeship levy as the growth and skills levy, to make training and development more accessible for businesses of all sizes. This could potentially further support greater flexibility in tackling the skills and talent gap – when this change is eventually rolled out.