The Classroom Holds the Key to The Skills Shortage in Insurance

Martyn Mathews, Managing Director, SSP Broker is on a mission to make insurance cool, starting at school;

I firmly believe that in order to help tackle some of the misconceptions about insurance and attract talent, those of us working in the sector need to be passionate advocates for the industry. People often say that they ‘fell into’ insurance and found to their surprise they loved it. Just because it
happened by chance doesn’t mean they shouldn’t share the love. We need to take it as our responsibility to talk to clients, colleagues and consumers about this great industry.

By constantly educating – however subtle or overt that might be – we can help build awareness of the vital role insurance plays from both an economic and social responsibility standpoint.

There are three key areas where education plays a vital part in the overall insurance proposition:

1. Transparency for consumers on why insurance represents great value for money, why costs rise (e.g. claims inflation) but why insurance is a critical protection measure for society.

2. So called soft insurance fraud is not a victimless crime, when it happens, the consumer ultimately pays more.

3. Teaching kids in schools, much as we do with creditworthiness, how insurance is a vital part of life, for every consumer, every single day.

The industry often talks about a skills gap in Insurance and whilst this means different things to different people, we can go some way to solving this through education and awareness.

Skills gap

Insurance providers are struggling to attract a new generation of talent to the industry, that is, unfortunately, the hard truth.
Data from Vacancy Soft shows in 2024, there has been an 11.4% increase in national vacancies for risk roles. Non-life insurance firms saw the biggest surge in struggling to fill vacancies, up 18.3%. London recorded a 22.3% increase in vacancies.

A recent Aviva Risks Insights Report highlights the issue, which in fact runs across the country and different industries. It said the shortage of skilled workers is the second biggest risk to UK companies
overall.

Why is educating kids about insurance important?

Firstly, teaching children about the economics of insurance and the value they will achieve in the same way we talk about credit, will ensure that it forms part of a social identity in the same way credit does.

There’s a notion that inflating an insurance claim, for example by exaggerating your losses on holiday, is victimless. The big corporate insurers will just pay out. It’s simply not true but the myth perpetuates. This is not a victimless crime, the consumer ultimately pays by way of higher premiums.

Secondly, the insurance industry does Big Data big time. I want kids to think about working in insurance in the same way as they might think about Google, Amazon or Facebook. We have fantastic careers across many disciplines but how many times do you hear this phrase – I ended up in insurance by accident. This must change and with the right educational efforts, it will soon.

I am on a mission to make insurance cool. SSP Broker is a huge supporter of our Cares initiative and we will be working with local schools offering practical business experience, mock interviews, for example.

Gen Z is expected to represent 27 percent of the workforce by 2025. It is critical that we show young people that this industry is a great place to be!