Aviva paid £1.99bn across 61,632 individual and group protection claims last year.
This was up from £1.89bn across 61,975 claims in 2024.
The insurer paid more than 51,000 individual protection claims last year, down from 52,000 claims in 2024.
Total pay outs exceeded £1.3bn, unchanged from 2024.
Overall, 96.9% of all claims received were accepted. This was down from 97.1% of claims in the previous year.
Life
Life insurance, including over 50s plans and advanced payments for terminal illness, accounted for the majority of claims. More than £860m was paid out across 40,000 claims, with an acceptance rate of 98.7%.
This was down from 98.8% of claims paid in the previous year, with more than 41,000 claims paid totalling just over £862m.
Of claims declined in 2025, the leading cause remained misrepresentation of relevant information, in particular health and lifestyle information.
Critical Illness
More than £388m was paid across 5,500 critical illness, children’s benefit and total and permanent disability claims. Aviva paid 90.7% of claims received in this category.
This was down from £405m paid out to customers with critical illness, children’s benefit or total and permanent disability (TPD) claims in 2024 when just over 5,600, or 91.5% of all claims received, were paid with an average payment of £71,989.
Where claims could not be paid in 2025, the majority were due to the customer’s diagnosis not meeting the policy definition for their condition.
Income protection
On income protection, Aviva paid out just over £63.5m in benefits to around 4,100 new and existing claimants. The overall acceptance rate was 90% – this includes claims already in payment.
This compared with just over 4,300 claims accepted in 2024, receiving benefits totalling more than £61m when a total of 90.1% of all claims received were paid.
Of those declined in 2025, around three-fifths were due to misrepresentation of relevant information during application.
Musculoskeletal conditions were the most common cause of claim, followed by mental health conditions and cancer.
Group protection
Aviva recorded an increase in both the number and total value of group protection claims paid in 2025 compared with the previous year.
Across all group protection products, just over 10,400 claims were settled, up from 9,300 in 2024.
The total value of claims paid rose to more than £677m, compared with £559m the year before, while all product lines saw an uplift in claim volumes.
Group income protection
Around 6,500 group income protection claims were paid, providing more than £146 million in benefits.
The average annual pay out was £22,464. Cancer remained the most common reason for making a claim, accounting for 26% of cases, followed by mental health conditions at 18%.
Aviva also supported more employees with early intervention and rehabilitation services than the previous year, with 2,656 people given support across 350 UK employers.
More than eight in 10 (85%) employees who were case managed successfully returned to or remained in work.
Group life
Group life claims also increased, with around 3,130 claims paid, compared with 2,810 the previous year.
Beneficiaries received more than £474m, with an average pay out of £150,700.
The average speed of payment was under three days.
Around 760 group critical illness claims were also paid, an increase from 689 in the previous year, with total pay outs exceeding £57m.
Financial safety net
Fran Bruce, managing director of Protection at Aviva, (pictured) said: “Paying nearly £2bn in claims to help more than 61,000 customers and their families is a powerful demonstration of the scale and impact of the financial safety net that we provide when customers need it most.
“But as sickness absence rises and demand for wellbeing and rehabilitation services continues to grow, the holistic support we offer is becoming just as critical.
“Helping people stay healthy, recover well, feel supported and remain financially resilient is fundamental to our approach.
“Looking ahead, data and technology are reshaping how we assess, understand and respond to customers’ evolving needs.
“Our industry-first Generative AI medical summarisation tool is helping more customers get protection in place quickly, while our advanced analytics are helping us better understand claims patterns and predict where support may be needed,” she added.