L&G paid 97.6% of Life Claims, 93.1% of Critical Illness claims and 91% of Income Protection Benefit claims in 2012.
Russell Whitworth, underwriting and claims director for Legal & General’s Retail Protection business said: "Our priority is to help people when they are at their most vulnerable and to pay as many claims as we can as soon as we can.
“Customers who are having to cope with a critical illness want the peace of mind that their claim is paid so they can concentrate on their health. On average we pay out 8 claims a day.
“We continue in our work to reduce non-disclosure and only 2.3% of claims in 2012 were repudiated purely for medical non-disclosure. 4.6% of claims did not meet the definition as set out by the ABI Best Practice for Critical Illness to which Legal & General adheres.”
Over the course of 2012 L&G paid out £274m for 5815 Life Insurance claims and there was a 5% increase in claims finalised compared to 2011.
The number of Critical Illness claims paid out reached 3,080 with £67,535 being the average amount paid and the average age of claimant 48 years. Cancer remains the number one reason for a critical illness claim.
The average age of Income Protection claimants was 42 years and 49% of claims paid in 2012 received more than £500 of benefit each month. The three reasons for claiming IPB were Musculosketal, Mental illness and Neurological.
