The Practical Protection Podcast

Hosted by Kathryn Knowles

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152

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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About the show

When you set out to get things like life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection, many people do not think that they are going to hit any snags along the way. But! Insurance is a world of risk and there are times that a persons circumstances will make insurers sit back and have an extra think about offering the insurance. Why?! This podcast is designed to answer that why. Kathryn Knowles is joined by guests to bring a clear and open chat about how insurance works. Kathryn brings her experience as a "quirky" life and the voice of the consumer to the discussion. She does this alongside her work as a specialist adviser, who is known for insuring the uninsurable.

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60 recent

June 11, 202650 min

Underdisclosure

Hi, everybody, it’s the start of Season 12 and I’m focusing on underdisclosure in protection insurance. Also known as misrepresentation or non-disclosure, this is a situation that everyone wants to avoid. Underdisclosure might not change the terms of insurance, but, it can lead to prices or sum assureds changing, and in the worst case a policy being cancelled from inception.The key takeaways:Non-disclosure is seen as innocent, negligent or deliberateIt can be tricky sometimes to remember everything in your medical history that the insurer wants to know, so accessing your medical records before applying for cover can be a big helpExamples of insurance questions in protection insurance where we see underdisclosureAlan will be back with me next time for a deep dive into a medical condition and how it’s underwritten for protection insurance. We are always happy to take your suggestions on what to cover so please feel free to fire over any areas that you would like us to go into.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

May 28, 202634 min

Overdisclosure

Hi, everybody, we are on the last episode of Season 11 and I’m focusing on overdisclosure. There is a lot of discussion in our industry about underdisclosure or non-disclosure, but not a lot of focus is put on the times when people tell insurers too much.It is essential that you answer insurance applications truthfully and to the best of your knowledge, but you don’t need to volunteer information that the insurer doesn’t ask for. It’s one of the reasons why people can be a bit nervous about iGPRs as it does give the insurer a lot more information than they are generally asking for. Insurers are meant to ignore information that is not relevant to the questions that they ask, but that isn’t always the case.The key takeaways:The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 means that consumers need to be careful to not misrepresent themselves to insurers, but also explicitly states that consumers do not need to volunteer information to insurers that isn’t asked forInsurance for commercial customers works differently as they do not have the protection of CIDRA 2012Examples of insurance questions in protection insurance that can lead to both over and underdisclosureDo you have anything that you want me to cover in Season 12? I will be back soon with deep dives into underwriting and industry insights. Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

May 14, 202631 min

Fatty Liver Disease

Hi, everybody, we have Alan back for the first time in a while and he is chatting to us about fatty liver disease. The options for life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection can vary quite a bit, depending upon the cause of the fatty liver and the stage that it is at. The good news is that the liver has a brilliant capacity to heal itself, so there can often be options for insurance.Alcohol consumption will be a key factor in the options for your clients. Where the fatty liver disease is caused by alcohol consumption, it’s very likely that mainstream providers in the UK will not offer insurance if the person is still drinking. You can develop a fatty liver for different reasons and in these cases you don’t necessarily have to be teetotal, but underwriters will be cautious if alcohol is still had regularly or at a higher level.The key takeaways:It is estimated that at least 1 in 5 people have fatty liver disease and that 31 people pass each day in the UK, due to liver diseaseThe questions you need to ask clients to be able to do underwriting researchTwo case studies of arranging life insurance for people with fatty liver diseaseThank you for listening, it’s nice to be getting back to normal with the podcast and other areas. I am not completely sure what I am going to cover in the next episode, I shall see what takes my fancy in the next two weeks!Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

April 30, 202642 min

The Value of Lasting Power of Attorneys

Hi, everybody, it's been a while. I’ve been away from the podcast for a bit as my mum died in February. It has not been an easy time and I have tried to carry on as usual, as much as possible, but I think we can call agree that the podcast was an area that could take a pause.I’m starting to get back into the swing of things and it feels right that the first episode of the podcast is focused upon Lasting Powers of Attorney. I am not an expert in this area, but I am sharing what my personal experience was of having these in place for both of my parents, when tragedy struck.The key takeaways:A health LPA was invaluable when my mum was in critical condition, but there are limits to use for my dad who has Parkinsons and Dementia and is still deemed to have capacityA financial LPA was invaluable for both of my parents and has, in our situation, been easier to enforce than the health LPAHaving the LPAs in place meant that I could quickly take over my parent’s affairs and whilst going through one of the most horrible experiences of my life, I could make sure that my mum passed in a comfortable environment and ensure my dad received the care that he needs. They helped an unbearable situation, to be a bit more bearable.This episode is my personal story, it is not advice. However, I do wholeheartedly advocate that everyone at least consider the merits of putting LPAs in place.Next time Alan will be back with me and we will be covering how fatty liver disease and protection insurance work.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

February 19, 202639 min

FCA Protection Market Study

Hi, everyone! I have ended up out of sequence! Last time I said we would be back with an episode on fatty liver disease, but the FCA has published its Protection Market Interim Report, and I absolutely had to cover this.The good news is that the FCA thinks that the protection industry is working really well, it just needs a couple of tweaks. Overall, I am really happy with what the report says, but there are some areas I don’t agree with and you can hear my views in this episode. I am going through their review of insurance costs, claims, complaints, the role of commissions, restricted panels, loaded premiums and more.The key takeaways:Within pure protection products, income protection has the lowest value in terms of cost compared to claims success, but is still much higher than other insurancesLoaded premiums, commission and restricted panels have been analysed and shown to not show significant detriment to consumersClosing the Protection Gap remains one of the key challenges for the protection insurance industryThere are a lot of insights in the report and it is well worth a read. I’ve tried to pick out certain pages to direct you to, in case you don’t fancy the full thing, it is 47 pages.Next time Alan will be back with me and we will be covering how fatty liver disease and protection insurance work.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

February 5, 202643 min

Vulnerable Clients

Hi, everyone! As I am sure you can imagine I am always looking for ideas about what to cover in the podcast. We’ve done lots on health conditions, I’ve done deep dives into insurance products, commented on market developments, but I was absolutely shocked to realise I have not done a specific episode of vulnerable clients.Most of you probably recognise my name as a specialist protection insurance adviser and really specifically someone that helps people with higher health risks. I’ve often spoken about the needs of vulnerable clients and been involved in multiple industry events for this topic. I’ve even won an award or two.So it seems silly that I have not covered this before and I am going to make sure that I give you as many tips as I can during the episode.The key takeaways:Examples of common vulnerabilitiesGuidance on how to build a vulnerable client registerWays to support your clients and your employees/colleagues when discussing vulnerable situationsVulnerability is very subjective and it can also change over time. Sometimes people can think, well we’ve never come across this before and we will just handle it if it happens. Which you can do, but it is much easier if you have a clear structured process in place. Your clients and your colleagues will thank you for it.Next time Alan Knowles will be back with me and we will be deep diving into fatty liver disease.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

January 22, 202636 min

Weight Loss Drugs

Hi everyone, we are back and talking about the use of weight loss drugs and getting protection insurance. Millions of people in the UK are now taking drugs like mounjaro and ozempic, to help them reach a healthy weight.Health professionals and insurers have said for many years that having a higher BMI isn’t healthy and can lead to long-term health complications. Weight loss drugs are proving to be a highly effective way for people to lose weight, which is generally seen as a good thing. But, there are side effects to taking the drugs too and at the moment there is very little long-term data to know what this may mean for someone 5, 10, 15 or 20 years down the line.The key takeaways:The use of weight loss drugs is showing very positive results from short-term dataThere is not enough long-term data around the use of mounjaro, ozempic, or other weight loss drugs, for insurers to completely understand client risksTwo case studies of arranging life insurance for people who are taking or have taken mounjaroIt has been a super intense start to the year, we were caught in the snow and school snow days have certainly had an impact on my timings. At this moment I’m not sure what the next episode will be covering but make sure to tune it as I will be bringing you even more protection insurance insights.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

December 11, 202526 min

Neurofibromatosis

Hi everyone, we are talking about neurofibromatosis, a rare condition that causes tumours to develop in the body. The tumours are not usually cancerous, but it is still a condition that can lead insurers to take an extra look at the insurance application. There are three types of neurofibromatosis and each of them are reviewed by the insurers on a case by case basis, as the symptoms and affect on a person’s life can vary so greatly.The key takeaways:Neurofibromatosis can cause difficulties for the skin, nerves, heart, bone development, balance, hearing and more.Neurofibromatosis can lead to other conditions such as epilepsy, scoliosis, deafness and vision loss.Two case studies of arranging life insurance for people living with neurofibromatosis.This is our final episode of 2025 and I hope that you all have a lovely festive period and come back in 2026 feeling super refreshed and ready to learn more about protection insurance. .Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

November 27, 202538 min

FCA Protection Paper

Hi everyone, I have been taking at look at the recent paper from the FCA, that has been written to give an initial view of how the industry works, the players in it, potential consumers and outcomes from accessing insurance.Overall I think the paper was really well written and gave an accurate portrayal of the industry. It was clearly written and not too long, so I would recommend giving it a read if you can. I’m not a data lover, but, they did have some stats in the paper that really stood out and I think are brilliant examples of how intermediaries are in this space.The key takeaways:In 2023 individual protection insurance claims totalled £4.85 billion.97% of income protection sales are advised, we’re doing an amazing job!Key focuses of the review are going to be ensuring effective competition, addressing the protection gap for vulnerable consumers, assessing influence of distribution channels on consumer outcomes, and reviewing commission and broking practices.Next time Alan is going to be back with me and we are going to be talking about arranging protection insurance for people living with neurofibromatosis.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors PlannerX.

November 13, 202528 min

Cystic Fibrosis

Hi everyone, Alan is joining me again to give us all insights into arranging protection insurance for someone living with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a condition that can be difficult to insure for life insurance. Historically, the life expectancy of a person living with cystic fibrosis has been much lower than average, which means that insurers see it as quite a high risk for a claim. The good news is that modern medicine has now significantly improved the outlook and half of people living with CF are now likely to live to at least the age of 56.Unfortunately standard routes for personal critical illness cover and income protection are not currently available. The absolutely best way to be covered by these insurances is through group cover through an employer, but even then there can still be some technicalities that can cause an issue at point of claim.The key takeaways:Approximately 11,000 are affected by cystic fibrosis in the UK and 1 in 25 people carry the gene without knowing itThe median age for people living with cystic fibrosis that died in 2022, was the age of 33.Three case studies of arranging life insurance for people living with cystic fibrosis.Next time I am going to be talking about the FCA’s recent protection insurance paper and my interpretation of what this means for our industry going forward.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website, thanks to our sponsors NextGen Planners.