The protection businesses of the largest mutual life insurer in the UK paid 98% of all claims received in 2015 and shelled out more than £250m in total payments.
Royal London said the payments include claims paid by its intermediary division, consumer unit and the co-op insurance services closed book of business.
The company said 100% of both the whole of life claims and the over 50s cover claims were paid.
Its UK intermediary protection business paid 94% of income protection (IP) claims and 93% of critical illness (CI) claims.
“Our latest claims data provides reassurance that claims are paid and should help boost confidence in the industry,” said Debbie Kennedy, head of protection for Royal London Intermediary.
“However claims data is only part of the story and it’s important we focus on the people behind the statistics,” Kennedy added.
For IP, the average payout was £10,145 while the top three reasons for the claims were musculoskeletal conditions, cancer and mental health conditions.
More than 40% of IP claimants had held their plan for four years or less and the average time a claim had been in payment was just under 5.5 years.
For CI, the top five reasons for the claims last year were cancer, heart attack, stroke, multiple sclerosis and children’s critical illness.
The average age for an adult CI claimant was 48 years old, with an average payout of £81,800. The largest claim paid was for £750,000.
