Royal London said its average protection underwriting turnaround has fallen to 1.5 working days, with all underwriting work assessed within four working days.
The insurer said the figures follow continued investment in underwriting capacity, with the underwriting team having grown by 20% since the beginning of 2025. Meanwhile, its specialist large-case underwriting team has doubled in size.
Royal London is also using iGPR’s Magic Service to speed up the return of medical evidence from GPs and reduce the need for follow-up requests. It said early insight suggests the average turnaround time for receiving medical evidence through the service is now five days, compared with several weeks previously.
The firm said service remains a significant issue across the protection market, with a recent report finding that 59% of advisers believe inefficient underwriting processes are a barrier to writing more protection business.
Craig Paterson, chief underwriter at Royal London, said: “Advisers need a service they can rely on, with cases handled quickly and consistently and clear support to help customers access the protection they need.
“As our protection business has grown, we’ve continued investing in the people, technology and underwriting capabilities needed to support that growth. We’re now seeing the impact of that investment, with average underwriting turnaround at 1.5 working days.
“Alongside delivering faster turnaround times, we’ve been looking across the protection journey at where we can remove unnecessary friction and make things easier for advisers and their clients.”
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