Legal & General saw claims approval rates across its life insurance, critical illness (CI) and income protection (IP) products all increase in 2022.
The insurer paid out over a third more IP claims and almost 7% more CI claims in 2022 than in 2021.
Providing a breakdown of its data to Health & Protection, L&G revealed it paid out £509m to 12,571 life insurance claimants with a 96.7% approval rate.
In 2021 it approved 96% of life insurance claims paying out £582m to 13,349 claimants.
The approval rate for CI claimants rose to 93.4% in 2022 with £224m paid to 3,236 claimants, up from £212m paid to 3,034 claimants with 93% approval rate.
And 82.2% of IP claims were paid, which includes those already in payment along with new ones, totalling £3m to 566 people.
These figures were up from 81% approval rate with £3m paid to 417 claimants in 2021.
£3.8bn paid in five years
Overall, the insurer revealed it paid out an average of over £2.4m in retail protection claims a day in 2022, providing £883m to 17,768 claimants across all individual protection offerings – up 5% on the previous year.
This was £85.76m more than 2021 and brought the total amount paid out to customers to £3.8bn over the last five years.
Last year, the insurer said it paid out a record 46 personal protection claims every day in the UK during 2021, totalling £797.9m – up £33.9m on 2020 – and benefitting 16,890 customers and their families.
Covid-19 fell from number three to number six in list of reasons for people claiming life insurance in 2022.
Cancer, heart and neurological conditions accounted for the most common claim causes for life insurance.
The data also revealed the average income protection claimant was 39 years old, while use of L&G’s umbrella benefits package has doubled since 2021.
The package offers value-added services and optional benefits that customers can access on a regular basis to supplement their NHS support.
David Banks, director of claims and underwriting at Legal & General Retail, said: “Legal & General is committed to paying as many claims as possible to our valued customers, and we’re proud to have provided increased financial support for a record number of people at their time of need over the last year.
“This demonstrates the value of protection and the need for coverage across people’s lives.
“While the financial support we offer to individuals and their families when they face a sudden loss of income is critical, we’re incredibly proud of the additional wellbeing services we’ve provided for our customers.
“Protection goes far beyond paying claims, and we continue to put the ongoing emotional and physical health of our customers first through enhancing our extensive umbrella benefits.”