Complaints about income protection (IP) insurance dropped by a fifth in the first three months of the 2021-22 financial year, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Overall complaints regarding the health and protection insurance markets were largely unchanged compared to the same period in 2020-21 as a surge in whole of life related issues was also recorded.
The latest data showed 201 formal complaints regarding IP policies were lodged with the FOS between April and June 2021, this figure was down 20% from the 250 a year earlier.
And the number of IP cases passed for an ombudsman decision fell by a third to 44, with the proportion of those upheld dropping from 23% to 21%.
Term assurance complaints, which included those for life and critical illness insurance, also dropped by 10% on the previous year to 520.
However, more than 95 cases were passed on for an ombudsman decision, up from 66 in Q1 2020, and uphold rates rose to 16% – although this remains well below the average for all FOS cases of 35%.
Private medical and dental insurance complaints nudged up to 337 from 330, but ombudsman referrals fell by 29% to just 50 and the uphold rate was slightly higher at 20%.
The most significant rise in the health and protection insurance market was for whole of life policies, with complaints jumping 48% from 186 to 276.
Case referrals here appeared to be fairly similar to Q1 2020, although it is not possible to get exact numbers from the FOS data and this also affects the accuracy of upheld rates which appear to have risen.
Complaints down 11%
Overall, the FOS received 50,966 formal complaints in the first three months of its financial year, down 11% from 57,509 in the same period during the previous year.
Subsequently, 7,614 cases were referred for an ombudsman decision, down from 7,731, with 35% upheld, up from 32%.
The regulator also noted a significant rise in complaints about fraud and other financial scams and urged banks and other financial institutions to do more to prevent them.