The proportion of pure protection advised sales has risen to 91% but standalone critical illness has declined significantly, FSA data has reported.
The highest proportion of advised sales was 93% for critical illness sold as an add-on benefit; while standalone critical illness contracts fell from 73% to 71%. The latter remains the lowest sold through advisers and has "declined significantly" by 14.5%.
The increase of advised sales for the last fiscal year 2011 to 2012, up from the previous year's 90%, was driven by a rise in income protection from 85% to 86%.
The report said: "With the UK economy in recession in Q1 2012, many households have had to focus on living expenses. Sales of standalone critical illness have been declining consistently since data collection began, from 26,003 s.a. in Q2 2005 to 6,066 s.a. in Q1 2012."
There was a total of 601,305 pure protection contract transactions in 2011/12 - an increase of 9,319 sales, or 1.6%, on 2010/11.
And according to the report, banks and building societies dominated the market as sellers accounting for 31% of sales in 2011/12. It represents an increase of three percentage points from the previous year.
