Insurance is a serious business but on occasion unusual examples of successful claims can help grab attention and improve customer engagement.
Paul Hudson is CEO at Cirencester friendly
Why should people take out income protection contracts when insurers never pay out – right?
According to the ABI’s latest figures 91.2% of income protection claims were paid out last year. An impressive statistic that demonstrates the value of income protection insurance. Insurers are keen to increase this figure so that even more consumers can see the value and benefit of income protection insurance.
Last year, Cirencester Friendly paid out 94% of claims. The remaining 6% weren’t paid because of non-disclosure of information at application (such as telling us about a pre-existing condition), proof of earnings not being supplied and no loss of earnings incurred during claim. We want providers to continue working closely with advisers to help them to educate buyers and feel confident in recommending contracts to their clients.
We have a dedicated team engaging with advisers to tell them about the choices of income protection contracts and ‘add ons’ available and pitfalls to avoid to ensure their clients are aware of the importance of disclosing full information at the outset to help secure a successful claim. There continues to be a lack of consumer engagement with income protection and we hope that a greater understanding, both amongst those who already have some form of protection and those who are still considering it will help drive take-up, whilst at the same time improving paid claim rates.
Insurance is a serious business but on occasion unusual examples of successful claims can help grab attention and improve customer engagement. Just some of the claims paid this year include: a cook fracturing their foot while burlesque dancing, a window cleaner who tore a pectoral muscle when flexing out at the gym and a training consultant who sustained a head injury from a falling boat mast.
Income protection provides thousands of people with peace of mind and the vast majority of claims are paid. Education will help push up successful claims rates even further which is in all our interests.
