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 Equifax Touchstone, a market leading intermediary database provider. 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.

The data, which is collated from all the main protection product providers, 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.

Critical illness saw the biggest increase in sales quarter-on-quarter, rising 14.8% (£1.3m) on the last quarter of 2015 while mortgage term 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.”

Equifax Touchstone utilises intermediary and customer profiling tools to enable financial services providers to obtain a detailed understanding of their marketplace and client base.