You may wonder whether insurance policies actually pay out? Insurers supported people experiencing bereavement, illness or injury to the tune of £6.85bn in 2022, according to latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Upwards trend
This total includes payouts from group and individual protection policies. Individual policies paid out £4.64bn on life insurance, income protection and critical illness claims, while group policies, which provide protection products through an employer, paid out £2.21bn.
Protection when it’s needed
In total, some 287,000 individual claims were paid, with the average payout from these policies increasing for the third year in a row to £15,448, a 9% boost.
Over 15,900 people claimed against individual income protection policies in 2022, another 9% increase from the previous year. The total value of these claims also rose by 22%. For the second consecutive year, the main cause of individual income protection claims (34%) concerned musculoskeletal issues.
Acceptance rates stay high
The number of new individual claims paid has consistently been around 98% since 2017. More than half of declined claims resulted from customers who had not told their insurer key details about themselves or their circumstances.
As with all insurance policies, conditions and exclusions will apply.
THE PLAN WILL HAVE NO CASH IN VALUE AT ANY TIME AND WILL CEASE AT THE END OF THE TERM. IF PREMIUMS ARE NOT MAINTAINED, THEN COVER WILL LAPSE.