The Intermediary – January 2026 - Flipbook - Page 62
P RO T E C T I O N
Opinion
Raising the bar for
inclusive insurance
T
he Government’s
recently published
Financial Inclusion
Strategy has brought
a welcome focus to
how we, collectively,
can improve financial inclusion for
individuals and communities who
have historically been underserved.
At Paymentshield, experience
accessibility is a core principle
embedded into our digital strategy.
It shapes how we design, build and
deliver our products, services, and
digital experiences.
Our aim has been two-fold: first,
ensuring our products cater to a wide
range of people and support financial
resilience; and second, making sure
the ways people engage with those
products – online, in documentation,
or through customer service – are
accessible and user-friendly.
Improving accessibility doesn’t only
benefit customers – it also supports
advisers, many of whom have their
own accessibility needs and all of
whom want confidence that the
products they recommend offer an
inclusive experience.
Inclusive product design
Financial resilience through
insurance is a key focus within the
Government’s strategy. It highlights
the persistent protection gap among
tenants – a challenge we have long
been commied to addressing – and
flags income protection as another
overlooked area.
Earlier this year, we enhanced
our mortgage protection product
and made it available again to
new customers, reaffirming
our commitment to supporting
people when their income comes
under pressure.
In the new year, we’ll also be
conducting research to beer
understand the extent of income
vulnerability among consumers,
helping advisers more easily identify
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The Intermediary | January 2026
and support clients who may be
exposed without realising it.
Alongside this, we’ve been
strengthening our home insurance
panel. A panel with breadth and
depth is essential for serving a wider
and more diverse pool of customers,
particularly those whose risk profiles
fall outside traditional parameters.
Every touchpoint
Of course, designing inclusive
products is only half the equation.
A central part of financial inclusion
is ensuring that when people engage
with those products – at the point of
sale, when adjusting a policy, or when
making a claim – the experience is
accessible, intuitive, and supportive.
This is where experience design plays a
crucial role.
Over the past year, we’ve introduced
significant improvements across our
digital estate, spanning customerfacing platforms and our Adviser
Hub. Our goal has been clear: to put
human-centred design at the forefront
and remove friction that could prevent
someone from understanding,
buying, or managing their insurance.
Accessibility enhancements
include both technical and content
improvements. We’ve refined our
back-end code and implemented
Accessible Rich Internet Applications
(AIRA) landmarks to improve screenreader compatibility, helping users
navigate pages more easily. We’ve also
adjusted colours and contrast ratios
across our estate to improve clarity
for users with visual impairments or
cognitive processing differences.
We’ve streamlined our online forms
by reducing the number of fields and
removing unnecessary steps, making
journeys quicker, clearer, and less
cognitively demanding. At the same
time, improved text-link visibility
ensures key actions and navigation
routes are easy to spot.
We have also rolled out the
Crownpeak accessibility platform
KARL ROWLANDS
is UX manager at Paymentshield
across our customer-facing website,
giving users a suite of personalisation
options, and this capability will soon
extend across the Adviser Hub.
Finally, we have trained Plain
Numbers Practitioners within the
business to help make key policy
information easier for our customers
to understand and reduce the risk of
misinterpretation at moments when
clarity is essential.
These changes may sound technical,
but their impact is human. They
ensure people with a wide variety
of needs can navigate our products
with confidence.
While advisers may not always
have considered accessibility when
assessing a provider’s service, it is
increasingly a differentiator.
According to Scope, more than 16
million disabled people live in the UK,
and many face challenges navigating
digital journeys. Ensuring clients
have access to accessible services isn’t
simply best practice, it’s essential.
The improvements we’re making
mean advisers can be confident that
they’re recommending a provider
commied to serving every customer
fairly and inclusively.
For advisers with accessibility needs
themselves, our improved design and
assistive tools make it easier to work
efficiently and without barriers.
As we head into 2026, we’ll continue
listening, testing, improving, and
building on the foundations we’ve
laid, so that we set the standard for
accessibility and insurance.
Our goal remains clear: to ensure
that every adviser and every customer
can access the protection they need in
a way that feels intuitive, supportive,
and fair for all. ●
