Legal & General paid around £1.39bn across more than 26,000 retail protection and group protection claims in 2025.
On average, L&G paid out £2.7m every day in retail protection claims, averaging 56 claims daily across its life, income protection and critical illness products.
The insurer paid £396m in group protection claims last year across group life, group income protection and group critical Illness products – a 14% increase on 2024.
Retail protection
Last year, L&G paid more than 20,000 retail protection claims, totalling just under £993m in pay outs to individuals and families.
Life and over 50s plans made up most of the claims, with nearly 14,000 pay outs amounting to £527m, 97.5% o claims paid, with an average pay out of £37,788 and a maximum pay out of £5m.
Terminal illness cover claims reached £161m, with 94.8% of 1,283 claims paid, an average pay out of £125,641 and a maximum pay out of £1.5m.
Critical illness cover claims accounted for over £291m, with 92.9% of 4,051 claims paid, an average pay out of £71,755 and a maximum pay out of £1.2m.
Payments for children’s critical illness cover totalled £4.7m, with 95.3% of 245 claims paid, an average pay out of £19,252 and a maximum pay out of £40,000.
The provider also paid £9.2m in income protection benefits to 814 new and existing claimants and 85% of new and continued claims paid, an average pay out of £779 per month and a maximum pay out of £8,000 per month.
Group protection
Turning to group protection, 1,413 claims were paid out on L&G’s group life policies, with payments totalling £284m. The average pay out was £201,032.
The provider paid 3,643 group income protection (GIP) claims in 2025, with more than £82m in benefits paid out. The average pay out per claim was £22,610.
On group critical illness cover, more than £29m was paid out to 353 individuals, with an average pay out of £83,815. Of the total, £156,811 was paid out for children’s claims, included automatically when their parent is covered by their employer as an employee with L&G.
L&G’s retention team kept 22,000 retail protection customers covered in 2025 who might otherwise have lost their cover due to lapses or cancellations. In addition, the insurer digitised claims submissions process for all of retail protection’s policies last year and more than 40% of retail protection claims now start online via MyAccount or its third-party portal.
Similarly, as part of the GIP Be Well. Get Better. Be Supported. outcomes-focused framework, L&G supported nine in 10 (89%) employees to enable them to successfully return to work within the first year of absence, up from 78% in 2024, and more than eight in 10 (81%) were supported to return to work within the deferred period, up from 74% in 2024. The number of vocational rehabilitation assessments supporting GIP employees, provided by L&G’s in-house team of multi-disciplinary specialists, increased from 4,266 in 2024 to 5,007 in 2025.
The data also revealed a 23% increase in interactions with L&G’s prevention-focused health and wellbeing support services, from 188,000 in 2024, to 231,217 in 2025.
James Shattock, managing director, protection and retail retirement at L&G (pictured), said: “Protection is more than paying a claim, it’s about supporting individuals and families when they need us most, keeping them protected, and helping them recover afterwards.
“We’re committed to continuously improving the claims journey by investing in our people, processes and digital solutions, so it’s efficient, transparent and flexible for customers during difficult times. For example, our fully digitised claims journey is already making a positive difference, allowing customers and their loved ones to start, pause and resume a claim whenever they’re ready.
“Our group income protection return to work outcomes have also gone from strength to strength over the past decade, thanks to our proven case management approach. This aligns closely with the recommendations in the government’s Keep Britain Working report, which we are proud to support.”
