Legal & General broke the £1bn in retail protection claims barrier in 2024 which included approving income protection (IP) and critical illness (CI) claims that had been on risk for just a handful of days.
Data from the insurer shared with Health & Protection showed the shortest period a policy had been on risk before paying a claim was an IP plan that was just three days old.
This was followed closely by a CI claim where the policy had been in place for only five days, while it was 13 days for life insurance, 24 days for children’s CI and 70 days for terminal illness.
Total claims over the year amounted to £1,060,649,030, up almost £140m or 15% from £921m in 2023.
The more than 20,000 claims was also a third consecutive increase in the volume of claims accepted, matching that trend for the value of payments.
The figures show just how significant cancer is as was it was by far the leading cause of claims for four product types and second in IP.
Life insurance
Legal & General approved 97% of life claims received including over-50s plans, on par with 2023, and paid out £583m on 14,067 life claims, with an average pay out of £41,457 and a maximum pay out of £5m.
The longest ongoing life policy at claim was 74 years and the shortest 13 days – against an average of 12 years, while the youngest claimant was 20 years old and the oldest was 101, with an average of 70 years.
The top three life claims were cancer (32.8%), heart-related conditions (20.7%) and neurological (6.1%).
Term illness cover
The insurer paid out £162m over 1,309 term illness claims having approved 93%, with an average value of £124,025 and a maximum of £1,056,873.
The longest on risk term illness policy at claim was 23 years and the shortest was 70 days – against an average of 10 years.
The youngest term illness claimant was 29 years old and the oldest was 82 with an average of 57 years.
The top three life claims were cancer (92.4%), followed by neurological (3.7%) and respiratory (1%).
Critical illness cover
Overall £303m was paid from 4,202 CI claims after 93% were approved, with an average pay out of £72,194 and a maximum pay out of £1,198,178.
The longest in force CI policy at was 26 years and the shortest was five days against an average of nine years, while the youngest CI claimant was 22 years old and the oldest was 69 years with an average of 49 years.
The top three CI claims were cancer (63.4%), followed by heart-related conditions (12.8%) and stroke (7.4%).
Children’s critical illness cover
Legal & General paid out £3.8m on 200 children’s CI claims having approved 97% of claims made with an average pay out of £72,194 and a maximum pay out of £1,198,178.
The longest held children’s CI policy at claim was 20 years and the shortest 24 days against an average of four years with the youngest claimant aged 0 days and the oldest 21, with an average of eight years.
The top three children’s CI claims were cancer (46.5%), followed by child funeral benefit (13.5%) and diabetes (7%).
Income protection
The insurer’s income protection claims paid data includes those claims already in payment. Health & Protection asked for figures excluding those already being paid but had not received them at time of publishing.
L&G approved 84% of claims, including those already being paid, and paid out £7.9m across 797 new and continued claims, with an average pay out of £730 per month and a maximum of £11,666 per month.
The longest held IP policy at claim was 34 years and the shortest was three days, compared to an average of two years, while the youngest IP claimant was 21 years and the oldest 64, with an average age of 41 years.
The top three IP claims were musculoskeletal (38.8%), cancer (14.1%) and anxiety/depression (7.9%).
Online claims reducing follow-ups
The insurer also pointed out that the launch of its online claim submissions capability had reduced follow-up requests for additional documentation to assess the claim by more than 25% for CI claims as more complete information is received at outset.
David Banks, director of claims and underwriting for retail protection at L&G, said: “We’re proud that we’ve been able to consistently support individuals and their families at times of immense stress and hardship.
“We’re committed to enhancing the experience for our customers by refining every stage of the claims journey.
“We’ve invested in our people and process to make continual improvements to our claims philosophy, service and processes.
“Digital claims, for example, has already made a positive impact and we expect this to continue.”