"Helping people build financial resilience has always been our goal, and as we look ahead to 2027, we want to make sure advisers and consumers understand the full picture of how we support that."
- Jo Miller - IPTF
The Income Protection Task Force (IPTF) has set out plans for its direction of travel in 2027, with income protection remaining central to its mission.
From 2027, IPTF will describe its work through the lens of resilience insurance, which it says reflects a commitment to helping more people become financially resilient and to reducing the protection gap.
The organisation recognises that individuals face income shocks in many forms, and that the best outcome is achieved by ensuring people have access to whichever proposition best meets their needs.
While the organisation's name will remain unchanged, it will over time make less use of "Income Protection Task Force" as the explanation behind the acronym, with "IP" increasingly standing for individual protection to reflect its focus on this market, rather than any move into group business.
IPTF says this is a clarification of a direction it has been following for some time, rather than a change of course. Eighteen months ago, IPTF broadened its membership offering alongside core income protection with the introduction of ASU (accident, sickness and unemployment) and accident cover.
More recently, IPTF launched its new matrix for value-added services, which maps the full landscape of individual protection products, aiming to give advisers and members a more complete view of the market.
Following on from this, IPTF says it will enter into consultation with members in the new year to explore further opportunities for collaboration and the further shape adviser and consumer support.
"Income protection is, and will remain, at the core of everything we do," Jo Miller, managing director at IPTF (pictured above), said. "What we're doing now is simply putting a clearer name to the work we've been doing for some time. Helping people build financial resilience has always been our goal, and as we look ahead to 2027, we want to make sure advisers and consumers understand the full picture of how we support that."
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David Mead, head of protection, employee benefits and GI at St. James’s Place, said that he was "delighted to support IPTF's evolution towards championing financial resilience across the wider protection landscape."
"This broadened focus reflects the reality that consumers' needs are complex and that improving resilience requires a range of solutions, not a single product," he continued. "The shift also aligns closely with the themes emerging from the FCA's recent review of the protection market, which highlighted the importance of increasing consumer access to protection and helping more people achieve better financial outcomes.
"By focusing on resilience and the end customer outcome, IPTF is well positioned to work collaboratively with industry stakeholders to reduce the protection gap and support more consumers in preparing for financial shocks."
Emma Morris, engagement manager at NMG Consulting, added that "the IPTF has played an important part in raising the profile of income protection during a period of strong growth for the product line.
"Its work to raise awareness has put IP firmly at the centre of protection conversations," she said. "That track record makes IPTF's broader move into championing financial resilience a natural evolution, and one that we are pleased to support. We look forward to seeing the impact this wider focus has in protecting the financial futures of UK consumers."
Announcement follows Income Protection Action Week
This announcement follows IPTF’s Income Protection Action Week (IPAW) 2026, which ran from 21st to 25th September and centred on key life moments that could trigger a protection conversation. The first three sessions focused on young clients and income risk, and protecting income through career changes and shifts in a client’s personal life.
The penultimate session of the week explored when life doesn’t go to plan, and the value of protection in these moments: "People don’t engage with products, they engage with people," Jo Miller said, "and that means the stories we tell, and how we tell, and where we tell them, really matters."
It featured insights from Zoe Priselac of Way More, who looked at the skills advisers should draw upon to get sensitive conversations right with clients. This was followed by a panel hosted by Phil Deacon of Phil Deacon Consulting and featuring Jack Southcott of The Exeter and Dave Thomson of Scottish Widows, who focused on the moment of claim as an opportunity for the industry.
Lastly, Dave Tindall of DLi Mortgages and Matt Leonard of Home Finance Direct discussed the importance of reviewing cover so it responds appropriately to clients’ changes in circumstance.
The final IPAW session of 2026 centred around rethinking IP in relation to modern working life, with the increased presence of AI and a rising retirement age.
Cameron Erskine of SeventySeven Wealth Management and Gregory Deer of MUVADO discussed the natural fit between IP and retirement planning, while Setul Mehta of Royal London, Hannah Vandervennin of The Mortgage Consultancy and Stephanie Hydon of iPipeline looked at the use of AI in income protection.
