How to buy life insurance leads in the UK: where to buy and what to check
You can buy life insurance leads in the UK from marketplaces, lead generators, agencies, call centres and list brokers, and for an advised firm a good start is exclusive enquiries from a seller’s own websites. Check the seller’s FCA status and consent wording, then run a capped trial judged on lead cost per policy placed.
Start with one-firm, own-site enquiries
Enquiries from a seller’s own websites, sold to one firm, cost more but are easier to check for consent and source.
Six checks before you pay
FCA status, exclusivity, consent wording, source, credit policy and contract. A low price never makes up for unknown consent.
Test small, judge cost per policy
Run a capped, pay-as-you-go trial with no minimum order or fixed term, and judge it on lead cost per placed policy.
Protection Connect: you cap the price
Exclusive life, income protection and over-50s enquiries from our own websites. See each enquiry and its price before you buy.
How do you buy life insurance leads, step by step?
Write a buying briefThe customers you want, how many leads you can call properly each week, and the most one lead is worth to you.
Shortlist by type of sellerMarketplaces, lead generators, agencies, call centres and list brokers sell very different things under the same word.- Check, score and read the termsFCA status, consent, source, exclusivity and credits, scored the same way every time, then any minimum order, fixed term or VAT.
Run a capped trialA set number of leads, a daily limit and one contact plan, so you test the source rather than your process.
Measure, then decideTrack each stage to policies on risk, then scale, adjust or stop against the pass mark you wrote down first.
Start with a one-page buying brief
A brief stops a persuasive sales call from setting your criteria, and it becomes the yardstick for your trial. Write it before you buy leads for life insurance from anyone.
| Decide | Write down |
|---|---|
| Products and customers | Products, age range, smokers or not, minimum cover, and whether you advise by phone or face to face |
| Capacity | New leads you can call promptly each week, and who calls them |
| Value per lead | Average commission × expected conversion, and your ceiling price (work out your maximum) |
| Lead type | Exclusive, shared, aged or hotkey: the one you’ll test first, and why |
| Records | Where leads land, how each is tagged by source, and the consent evidence you keep |
| Budget | A monthly cap you can afford to lose while you learn, remembering you usually pay for leads weeks before commission arrives |
Capacity is the easiest to get wrong. Illustrative example: if each new lead takes about 45 minutes of adviser time across calls, notes and follow-up, 20 selling hours a week covers about 27 new leads; buy 60 and the rest cool in a queue. These figures are examples, not Protection Connect results.
Where can you buy life insurance leads in the UK?
Where to buy life insurance leads comes down to seven kinds of seller. The last column shows which firms each one tends to suit.
| Seller | First contact | How you usually pay | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead marketplace | The customer, through an enquiry form | A price up to a maximum you set, or a fixed price | Firms that want to set their own criteria and the most they’ll pay |
| Lead generator with its own websites | The customer, on the seller’s site or advert | A fixed price per lead, sometimes in batches | Firms that want to see the exact form and website the customer used |
| Comparison and affiliate sites | The customer, who may have expected a price on screen | Per lead, directly or through a platform | Teams that call fast and can handle a customer who expected a price, not a call |
| Lead generation agency | The customer, through adverts run in your firm’s name | A management fee plus the advertising cost | Firms ready to own the adverts, the data and the compliance |
| Call centre selling hotkeys or appointments | The call centre, by phone | Per live transfer or booked appointment | Firms that want a live conversation and accept less control of the first contact |
| Data or list broker | Whoever compiled the list, sometimes for another purpose | Per record, sometimes with a minimum order | Seldom an advised firm: the consent, TPS and CTPS checks fall on you |
| Network or principal scheme | Depends on the scheme’s supplier | Set by the scheme | Appointed representatives whose principal approves their suppliers |
Many let you buy life insurance leads online, with sign-up, criteria and payment in one dashboard. Our guide to the best leads for each type of firm matches lead types to firms in more detail.
What should you check before you buy life insurance leads from a seller?
Score every seller with the same six questions before you spend anything; the sections below show how to answer each one.
Checklist
Lead seller scorecard
Answer six questions about any seller you’re considering. FCA status, exclusivity and consent carry the most weight, because they decide whether you can use the leads at all.
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Is the seller FCA authorised (or an appointed representative), and does it check the FCA status of the firms it sells to?
You are responsible for how you use the data. A seller that checks nobody is selling to anybody.
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Is each lead sold to one firm only, and never resold later?
Ask whether “exclusive” lasts for ever or only for a day or a week.
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Can you see the exact consent wording the customer agreed to?
You need to know the customer asked to be contacted, by whom and how, before you call.
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Does each lead show the website and date it came from?
Origin and timestamp help with compliance checks and with judging quality.
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Is there a written credit policy for invalid numbers and duplicates?
Look for clear grounds, a time limit and how credits are paid.
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No long-term contract and no minimum monthly spend?
Lets you test at low volume and stop if the numbers do not work.
- Provider score
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A checklist to structure your due diligence, not a rating of any named provider and not legal or compliance advice.
Illustrative example: seller A is FCA authorised and checks its buyers’ FCA status, sells each lead once, shows its consent wording and gives each lead’s source and date, but its credit policy is unclear and it wants a three-month minimum order. That scores 77, promising but needing written answers before you spend, while a list seller with simple terms but no FCA status, consent wording, source, exclusivity or credit policy scores 13. These scores are examples, not ratings of any real seller.
The seller’s FCA status
Buying leads isn’t itself a regulated activity, but who you buy from still matters.
- Find the seller on the FCA Financial Services Register by name or firm reference number (FRN), with a current status and permissions that fit what it does.
- Match the names, website and phone number to what it gave you, because clone firms copy genuine firms’ details. For an appointed representative, check the principal too.
- A seller that asks people qualifying questions may need FCA authorisation or appointed representative status: the exclusion for passing on details covers details people already gave, not answers drawn out by questions. If it says it needs neither, get the reasoning in writing for your compliance adviser.
- If it advertises online, ask which authorised firm approves its adverts.
The form and the consent wording
The ICO says a buyer can’t simply accept a supplier’s assurance. Its guidance for organisations using data brokers lists what to establish: where the data came from, what people were told, when it was collected, whether your firm was named, when numbers were last screened against the TPS and CTPS, and how objections reach you.
For a live web enquiry, most of that should be visible on the page the customer used, so ask to see it and keep a copy. Be wary of consent that sends details to “partners” or “selected third parties”: for email and text marketing the ICO expects consent to name your firm, and you can call a TPS-registered number only if the person has told your firm they don’t object to your calls.
Our overview of the UK rules for buying and calling leads covers PECR and the Consumer Duty. Agree your own approach with your compliance adviser or network.
What to get in writing
Ask for each of these in writing, and keep the answers with your supplier records.
| Check | Ask for |
|---|---|
| Source | Which websites or campaigns produce the leads, and whether each lead shows where and when it came from. A seller that buys in from affiliates may not know the full chain. |
| Exclusivity | A written definition: one firm, no time limit, never resold or recycled into aged data. See how sellers stretch the word “exclusive”. |
| Lead contents | A sample lead with every field, which fields are always present, and how contact details are checked. If leads are sold as qualified, ask what qualified really means for that seller. |
| Credit policy | The grounds (typically invalid numbers, invalid emails, duplicates and leads outside your criteria), the time limit, the evidence needed, who decides, and whether a credit is cash, balance or a replacement lead. |
| Data sharing | Who is the controller of each lead, how long you may keep it, and whether there’s a data sharing agreement, which the ICO’s data sharing code recommends between controllers (the ICO is reviewing the code after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025). |
| Delivery | How leads reach you (dashboard, email alert, webhook or CRM), how soon after the customer sends the form, and what happens if a delivery fails. |
What are the red flags when buying life insurance leads?
One on its own may have an innocent explanation. Two or three together are a reason to walk away.
- It won’t show you the form and consent wording, or the consent covers “partners” or “selected third parties”.
- “Exclusive” comes with a time limit, a territory or no written definition.
- It wants a non-refundable minimum order, a fixed term or an auto-renewing package before you’ve seen a lead.
- There’s no written credit policy, or credits depend on goodwill.
- It never asks for your FRN, or says its leads are approved by the FCA: the FCA authorises firms, not leads.
- It promises a set number of sales, or quotes conversion rates it can’t evidence.
- Its consumer ads pose as an independent blog or comparison service.
- It can’t say where its data came from or when numbers were last screened against the TPS.
The last two have led to action. In 2023 the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against a life insurance lead generator whose ads posed as an independent blogger and didn’t make clear it was collecting details to pass on.
In May 2026 the ICO fined an energy company £160,000 for marketing calls to TPS and CTPS registered numbers, made with bought data whose screening it hadn’t checked. The firm that makes the calls, and any firm that has calls made for it, can answer for the data.
Do you need a contract or minimum order to buy leads?
Before you purchase life insurance leads, separate two questions: what each lead costs, and what you sign up to. As a rough guide, aged leads are advertised at about £1 to £10 each, shared leads at £10 to £25, exclusive leads at £30 to £80 and hotkey transfers at £60 to £120.
Indicative ranges based on our view of typically advertised UK prices in 2026. Not a survey or Protection Connect prices; we show each lead’s price before you buy.
Sellers charge through a rate card, a marketplace where demand sets the price, a subscription or a price per appointment, as our guide to how sellers price leads compares. For a first purchase the commitment matters more, because it decides who carries the loss if the leads don’t convert.
| Commitment | The risk to you | Ask before you agree |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed term or notice period | You keep paying after you know the leads don’t work | How long it runs, the notice to end it, and whether it renews automatically |
| Minimum order or batch | You pay for leads you can’t yet judge, and a big batch goes cold before you call it | Whether a batch arrives at once or spread out, and what you owe if it underperforms |
| Subscription or retainer | The fee is due whether or not leads arrive | Whether unused allowance carries over |
| Prepaid balance | Your money sits with the seller | Whether unused balance is repaid if you leave, how quickly and to where |
| Automatic top-up | Spend continues while nobody is watching | The trigger level, the most it can charge in a day, and how to switch it off |
| Free or discounted trial | The terms that start when it ends | Whether trial leads come from the same supply as paid ones |
A very low price isn’t a red flag on its own, but it usually reflects the lead’s age, how many firms receive it or where it came from; see when cheap leads pay off.
How many leads should you buy to test a seller?
Size a trial from the policies you need to see, not the leads you fancy buying, because a few lucky or unlucky leads swing a small test.
Calculator
How big should your trial be?
Start from the number of policies a trial needs to produce, or switch to the budget you’re prepared to risk, and see how many leads that buys.
Use your own figure if you have one.
Add your commission
- Monthly lead budget
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- Leads a month
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- Leads a week
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- Daily limit for optional automatic buying
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- Commission after lead costs
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Illustrative planner: the default figures are examples, not Protection Connect results or a promise of lead volumes. The daily figure divides the monthly budget by 30.4 days.
Illustrative example: at the planner’s 8% conversion (an example, not a benchmark), four policies need 50 leads, which at £45 each is £2,250: spread over a month, about 11.5 leads a week and £74 a day. At £750 commission per policy those leads take 75% of the £3,000 earned, and switching to “Budget I have” shows that £1,000 buys 22 leads, about 1.8 policies: too few to judge a source. These figures are examples, not Protection Connect results.
£750 is roughly what a £300 to £440 annual premium pays at the 170% to 250% of first-year premium that the FCA’s interim report found usual for initial commission. The same report found lead generation and staff costs together took about 30% of gross commission for a small sample of protection specialists, so at these figures the source leaves little for adviser time and clawback.
If a meaningful trial costs more than you can afford to lose, test one seller at a time with a lower daily cap. Our guide for advisers new to buying leads covers starting small.
See each price before buying.
No fixed-term contract. No minimum monthly spend. Pause any time.
Set up before the first lead
- A ceiling price and a daily cap, so leads arrive at a pace your advisers can call while the enquiry is fresh.
- One contact plan for every lead: a first call as soon as you can, then a set, limited number of attempts across mornings, afternoons and evenings, stopping the moment the customer asks and adding them to your do-not-call list. Contact rates tend to drop quickly after an enquiry, so a slow first call tests your diary, not the seller.
- A source tag on every lead in your CRM, so one seller’s results never blur into another’s.
Our guide to converting leads into policies on risk sets out a full contact plan.
Measure each stage
Each measure settles at a different time, so don’t judge a source on one that hasn’t.
| Measure | What it tells you | Readable from |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid details and credits claimed | How well the seller checks details, and whether its credit policy works as written | The first week |
| “Has anyone else called you?” | Whether exclusivity holds in practice | The first calls |
| Contact rate | Data quality, and how fast and persistent your own calling is | The first two weeks |
| Fact-finds booked | Whether customers fit your criteria and expected your call | Two to four weeks |
| Policies on risk and lead cost per policy | Whether the source pays | One to three months |
| Opt-outs and complaints | Whether people understood they would be contacted | Throughout |
| Early lapses and clawbacks | Whether policies stay on risk | Months to years |
Write your pass mark and stop line before the first lead arrives; our 30-day test plan shows how to set them and when to scale, adjust or stop. If opt-outs or complaints show people weren’t expecting your call, pause that source and raise it with the seller, however cheap its policies look.
How do you buy life insurance leads on Protection Connect?
Protection Connect is a UK marketplace for exclusive life insurance leads, run by an FCA authorised firm. Each enquiry, for life insurance, income protection or over-50s cover, comes from someone who asked to be contacted on our own websites, LifeAdviser and 50Life.
- Sign up your firmFree. Find your firm by name or FRN, and we check it against the FCA Register.
- See each lead and its priceBrowse Available leads: income protection from £50 and life or over-50s from £55, with age bands for all and cover bands for life and over-50s only.
- Buy at the price shownWith a saved card, balance first; otherwise, pay in full by card.
- Get leads in your CRM or on your dashboardWith an email alert, or by webhook to Zapier or Make.
Lead estimates are a guide, not a promise of volume.
See each price before buying. We set a lead’s starting price when it’s listed; prices then move with demand and as a lead stays unsold. There’s no subscription or minimum monthly spend. Claim credits within 48 hours of delivery on three stated grounds.
On LifeAdviser and 50Life, a notice under the “Get my quotes” button tells customers their details may go to one FCA authorised adviser firm, or one of its appointed representatives, that buys enquiries through Protection Connect and may contact them about their enquiry. The notice doesn’t name your firm. When you call, say who you are and mention their enquiry on LifeAdviser or 50Life. Contact them only about that enquiry.
Agree with your compliance adviser how PECR applies: TPS screening for live calls, and consent naming your firm for email or text. See how it works and the full marketplace guide.
Questions brokers ask about buying life insurance leads
There’s no single best place. The best source is the one whose leads your firm can convert at a cost that works. For an advised firm, a good start is a seller whose enquiries come from its own websites, go to one firm only and show their consent wording. Our guide to choosing the best leads goes further.
Yes. Many UK sellers take sign-ups and payment online and deliver leads to a dashboard, an email alert or a webhook into your CRM. The checks don’t change: FCA status, consent wording, terms and a spending cap you control.
Buying leads isn’t itself a regulated activity. Your firm needs FCA authorisation or appointed representative status to advise on and arrange cover, and a seller that asks qualifying questions may need one too. PECR and UK GDPR govern how you contact people, as our summary of the UK rules explains, so check your approach with your compliance adviser.
Sometimes. Many sellers credit or replace a lead rather than refund it, and only on written grounds such as wrong numbers or duplicates. A customer who doesn’t answer or buys elsewhere isn’t normally a ground. On Protection Connect you claim within 48 hours of delivery on three stated grounds, and an approved claim returns the full price to your balance.
It depends on your process. Many advised firms start with recent enquiries from people who asked to be contacted, sold to one firm only. These cost more than shared or aged leads, so compare lead types on the lead cost of each placed policy, not price per lead. Our comparison of exclusive and shared leads runs the maths.
Often not, for an advised firm. Lists are cheap per record, but people may not remember agreeing to anything, their permission may not cover your call, and numbers need TPS and CTPS screening before any live marketing call. The ICO expects buyers to check where data came from. Our aged leads guide explains when older records are worth calling.
Your firm must give advice and be FCA authorised, or a full appointed representative of an authorised principal, with permission (yours or your principal’s) to advise on and arrange non-investment insurance for retail customers, and be registered with the ICO. Sign up by name or FRN. We check applications against the FCA register. Once approved, your owner, admins and buyers can buy in Available leads at the price shown. It opens straight away in My leads and can go to your CRM. Automatic buying is optional.
Many sellers supply leads UK-wide, and some sell by territory or postcode area. “Exclusive in your area” can describe the territory rather than a lead sold once. On Protection Connect, enquiries cover the whole UK and you can’t currently choose regions or postcode areas yourself, so factor that in if you meet customers face to face.
Sources and further reading
- FCA: Financial Services Register
- FCA: Distribution of pure protection products to retail customers, market study interim report (MS24/1.4), January 2026
- ICO: Organisations using marketing services of data brokers
- ICO: Data sharing code of practice, data sharing agreements
- ICO: Glasgow-based energy company fined £160,000 for making unsolicited marketing calls (May 2026)
- ASA: Ruling on a life insurance lead generator’s ads (1 February 2023)
