Insurers paid out more than £168m in death benefits from group life policies as a result of Covid-19 last year – a sharp increase on 2020 as the pandemic continued to hit hard.
The total of £168.3m for Covid-related death claims was 80% higher than the £93m paid out in 2020, according to trade body Group Risk Development (Grid).
In all there were 1,578 lump sum death benefit claims, plus the capitalised value of 24 dependants’ pension claims where Covid-19 was recorded as the primary or secondary cause of death or reported on the claim form.
The average lump sum death benefit payment for Covid-19 claims was £100,387 and the average capitalised value of the dependants’ pensions paid for Covid-19 deaths was £410,950.
The data was collected by Gen Re for Grid from group life providers identifying Covid-19 claims paid across all of 2021.
Katharine Moxham (pictured), spokesperson for Grid said: “Employees are increasingly looking to their employers to help them through the challenges they’ve faced during the pandemic, and this is for all areas of health and wellbeing, including financial.
“The figures released today represent hundreds of families that have been supported because of an employee benefit, and we’d encourage more employers to offer this to staff.”
Grid noted that the payment of a group life benefits provides a vital financial lifeline for dependants and is one of the most tangible and practical employee benefits that can be offered by companies.
It added that in addition to financial payments, dependants also often get access to other support embedded within these benefits, such as bereavement counselling and guidance on probate, to help people through what is a very challenging time.