In April, Andrew Ward, head of protection of advice for Roxburgh, told FTAdviser: "When a policy is underwritten, it is rare that providers will step away from the guidelines and take a human approach to helping someone get cover.
" A claim can be slightly more rigid in terms of meeting certain criteria and getting the claimant to supply certain information.
"I've not seen any provider step outside the box and show the client they are trying to make it easier to claim, even if that is the ethos of the provider."
Ms Thomson also told FTAdviser it was important for the industry to work harder to improve technology to reach more potential customers - particularly millennials.
"The days of door-to-door sales people going round to sell insurance are long gone. We have to adapt to today's consumers, especially trying to get younger people into the mindset of buying insurance", she said.
Ms Thomson added "They will be using their mobiles and apps, so it is important we design easy processes for them and perhaps go further and design apps they can use on their phones to buy insurance more quickly, as some countries do."
This built on a point made earlier in June by Legal & General's Mark Holweger, who warned that millennials were in severe financial risk by not taking out much-needed protection.
Overall, Ms Thomson was adamant the industry is moving in the right direction, not just in terms of improving technology and the claims experience, but also in service levels overall to the end consumer.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
