Men made up 71% of claims and the average climant age was 68 years old.
Legal & General (L&G) has paid out £42.8m of life insurance claims within the UK for COVID-19 between March 1 and December 1, 2020.
This is the combined total of paid Life claims for individual (£34.1m) and group (£8.7m) and represents 99% of all COVID-19 Life claims for more than 1,000 claimants.
Men made up 71% of claims and the average climant age was 68 years old.
Of the very few COVID-19 claims that have been declined, the vast majority are due to misrepresentation of pre-existing underlying health conditions that would have contributed to the COVID-related complications.
These are generally noted as contributory causes of death on the death certificate; for example, a mention of respiratory issues or diabetes, with no disclosures of the conditions made on the application form.
Paula Bertram- Lax, chief customer officer at LifeSearch, said: “It’s so important to keep demonstrating the value of protection and that claims get paid even during pandemics.
"Quite a number of the families LifeSearch helped get protected have made and received COVID-related pay-outs and used them to clear debts and manage cash flow and provide for their future, so we know how essential these policies are for almost all families. It’s really important that both advisers and consumers are aware that life cover can be trusted to pay out and provide money when it’s surely needed most.”
David Banks, underwriting and claims director at Legal & General, added: “We believe these figures show that the Protection industry does deliver on its promise to pay claims and be there for our customers when they need us most.
"We have taken a measured approach to COVID-19 and have adapted our underwriting process during the pandemic, for example adding remote screening to help advisers put cases onrisk faster.
"Our underwriting, claims and services teams are all set up for home working to minimise disruption and in doing so, we’ve maintained our strong underwriting turnaround times from pre-COVIDlevels to support as many customers as possible.”
Last month L&G launched their new long-COVIDIntervention Package for claimants insured under their Group Income Protection and Retail Income Protection Benefit policies. The package includes eight hours of therapy assessment and rehabilitation time.
