Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Cirencester Friendly
Cirencester: Talking Protection - Think Marathon Not Sprint
In the latest AMI Protection Viewpoint report, only 39% of respondents recalled their broker asking about protection insurance, but 99% of brokers said they asked their clients about it
Cirencester: How Protection Builds Life Resilience
Life is a lottery. One minute everything could be going your way, the next something crops up that blocks your path. The problem may be small, simple to solve and something you can easily overcome to get back on track.
Cirencester: The Rise of the Multi Job Worker
Over the recent weeks and months, I’ve had several conversations with Advisers where they are struggling to explain how providers approach workers with more than one job. This is not a new issue but one that’s more prevalent today.
Cirencester Friendly's 125 Foundation awards almost £60,000 to worthy causes in 2025
Cirencester Friendly's 125 Foundation, which provides financial support to the society's Members, their communities and causes close to their hearts, paid out nearly £60,000 to over 100 recipients in 2025. The Foundation was set up in 2015 to mark the 125th anniversary of the society and has paid out more £300,000 since its inception. These figures were announced at Cirencester Friendly’s Annual General Meeting.
Cirencester friendly introduces minimum benefit guarantee on income protection products
Individual income protection specialists, Cirencester Friendly have introduced a minimum benefit guarantee of a maximum of £1,500 a month on their Income Assured and My Earnings income protection products. This is now available to both new and existing members on both products and available for all new claims.
Bite-Size Claims with Cirencester Friendly - Episode 3
What should your client check before making a claim? Here’s a snapshot of what information we will need to begin a claim, as well as important details your client will be asked to provide.
Bite-Size Claims with Cirencester Friendly - Episode 4
It’s common to be asked what and how a client is paid in the event of a claim. Our Claims Team chat you through what to expect, and what could potentially impact your client’s benefit.
Bite-Size Claims with Cirencester Friendly - Episode 5
Our support extends outside of claim. In this final video, we chat through the added-value benefits available to your client as part of their contract, and the support your client will receive whilst in claim with us.
Cirencester: Making protection part of everyday discussions
How do you get people to talk about subjects they’d rather avoid? We Brits are experts at ignoring things that make us feel uncomfortable. We are perfectly prepared to stick our heads in the sand and refuse to discuss things like money, ill health and death, hoping if we ignore difficult topics they might just go away.
Bite-Size Claims with Cirencester Friendly - Episode 1
Welcome to our bite-size claims series! In episode one, we will discuss the benefits of a Mutual for you and your client, as well as chatting through how we at Cirencester Friendly assess a claim.
Bite-Size Claims with Cirencester Friendly - Episode 2
Continue the series with episode two, where our Claims Team will chat you through what you should do when your client needs to claim, and how you can help your client with the process.
Cirencester Friendly introduces minimum benefit guarantee on income protection products
Individual income protection specialists, Cirencester Friendly have introduced a minimum benefit guarantee of a maximum of £1,500 a month on their Income Assured and My Earnings income protection products. This is now available to both new and existing members on both products and available for all new claims.
Cirencester: Why Good Financial Planners Move On (Even When They’re Doing Well)
Claims figures for 2025 from individual income protection provider Cirencester Friendly reveal a significant rise in claims for musculoskeletal conditions, which includes back and neck pain. Claims for these conditions now make up more than four in 10 of all claims, when just two years ago they represented only a quarter. It is also telling that for every generation in the workforce from Gen Z to Boomers, musculoskeletal conditions are the number one reason for claims.
Cirencester Friendly 2025 Claim Statistics
We’re committed to supporting our Members when they need us most. By publishing our claim statistics, our intentions are to help you and your clients make an informed choice when selecting income protection cover and to help ensure submitted claims are valid. Check out our 2025 highlights!
Cirencester: Application Journey Guide - Part 3
We've created short Application videos, taking you through submitting a quote, adding client details, and the decision process. You can find them here on our website under Tool and Guides.
Cirencester: Application Journey Guide - Part 2
We've created short Application videos, taking you through submitting a quote, adding client details, and the decision process. You can find them here on our website under Tool and Guides.
Cirencester: Application Journey Guide - Part 1
We've created short Application videos, taking you through submitting a quote, adding client details, and the decision process. You can find them here on our website under Tool and Guides.
Cirencester: Starting the conversation
What do British people like talking about? The weather immediately springs to mind. There is so much to discuss when you can have four seasons in one day. We love our pets and are only too keen to share cute anecdotes about our beloved furry or scaly friends. Travel, celebrities and the Royal Family are also favourite topics.
Cirencester: Making protection part of everyday discussions
Discussing income protection can be uncomfortable, both for clients and advisers. Alan Waddington, Distribution Director at Cirencester Friendly, explores why the protection gap persists and how clients can be engaged in a positive manner.
Cirencester: The Everyday
The biggest difference isn’t in the policy, it’s in the support that comes with it
Cirencester: Did you know that 4.38 million people in the UK are self-employed?
If your client is self-employed, have you spoken about their financial plan should they fall ill and cannot work? Income protection can provide them with that much needed financial breathing room while they recover.
The Everyday
Sometimes the difference isn't in the policy, it's in the support that comes with it.
Cirencester Friendly: Friendly Voice Support
A split deferred period is designed for situations where the amount your client gets paid from work reduces in stages. This calculator will help you to work out the maximum benefit your clients can apply for when selecting a split deferred period on our My Earnings products.
Cirencester Friendly: It starts with a conversation
Income protection starts with the right questions. This short PDF combines real UK statistics with practical conversation starters to help you frame more meaningful discussions around income shortfall and risk. A quick, high-value read for adviser conversations.
Cirencester Friendly: Millennials most likely to associate personal confidence and a sense of purpose with work
A new survey* from income protection provider Cirencester Friendly reveals more than eight out of 10 workers think if they couldn’t work due to illness or injury, it would damage their personal confidence. A third believe it would have a major impact and only 8% of workers think it would have no effect at all. This dent to confidence could hamper the speed of recovery and delay a return to work.
Cirencester Friendly: 70% of workers think work has a positive impact on their health and wellbeing
A new survey from income protection provider Cirencester Friendly reveals most people believe work has a positive impact on their health and wellbeing. Seven out 10 respondents, agreed with this statement with just over a third (34%) agreeing with it strongly.
Cirencester Friendly: Friendly Voice Support
Members making a mental-health-related claim will now be automatically referred to our Friendly Voice service, giving your clients access to a personal RedArc nurse for guidance throughout their claim and ongoing wellbeing support.
Cirencester Friendly: Adviser Resource Hub
We have a one-stop-shop on our website, aptly named our Adviser Resource Hub. On this Hub you will find an assortment of educational tools, industry insights and media training videos, such as our bite-size claims video series.
Cirencester Friendly: Work Provides Purpose, Something Well Worth Protecting
When you meet someone for the first time, what questions do you ask? After enquiring about their name and where they live, the next one tends to be: “What do you do?”
Cirencester Friendly: The Evolution Of Claims
Protection used to be a business conducted exclusively on paper. Older customers will remember only too well the pain of filling in long, laborious forms to make a claim and then sending these off in the post, trusting they would arrive safely at the correct destination.