Sales of protection products 'soared' in the first quarter of the year reaching record highs not seen since the last quarter of 2012, according to research from Equifax Touchstone.
Protection sales for the first quarter of 2016 stood at £118.4m, up £7.2m (6.5%) on the same period last year and £1.3m (1.1%) on the previous quarter.
Protection policy sales for Q4 2012 totaled £145.1 million, the data firm found.
The data, which is collated from all the main protection insurers, found term assurance accounted for the largest portion of sales for the quarter, at £46.3m (39.2%).
Term assurance with critical illness followed in second place, bringing in £24.1m (20.3%) of sales.
Meanwhile, critical illness cover saw the biggest increase in sales quarter-on-quarter, rising 14.8% (£1.3m) on the last quarter of 2015.
Mortgage term assurance sales saw the biggest decline, dropping 6.8% (-£1.4m).
Geoff Greensmith, director at Equifax Touchstone said: "It has been a solid start to the year for protection sales, driven by a strong uptake in critical illness and term assurance policies.
"Unsurprisingly, mortgage term sales have lagged behind following a reduction in mortgage applications at the end of 2015.
"This trend may also continue into the next quarter given the rise in stamp duty for buy-to-let properties which came into effect on 1 April this year."
