Legal & General paid £42.8m of life insurance claims in the UK for Covid-19 between March 1 and December 1, 2020.
The provider confirmed that the figure represents 99% of all Covid-19 life claims for more than 1,000 claimants.
Individual life claims for Covid-19 totalled £34.1m, while group claims represented £8.7m.
Men made up 71% of claims and the average climant age was 68 years old.
A spokesperson for L&G said that of the “very few” Covid-19 claims that have been declined, the “vast majority” were due to misrepresentation of pre-existing underlying health conditions which would have contributed to the Covid-related complications.
The spokesperson said: “These are generally noted as contributory causes of death on the death certificate; for example, a mention of respiratory issues or diabetes, with no disclosures of the conditions made on the application form.”
L&G underwriting and claims director David Banks said: “We believe these figures show that the protection industry does deliver on its promise to pay claims and be there for our customers when they need us most.
“We have taken a measured approach to Covid-19 and have adapted our underwriting process during the pandemic, for example adding remote screening to help advisers put cases onrisk faster. Our underwriting, claims and services teams are all set up for home working to minimise disruption and in doing so, we’ve maintained our strong underwriting turnaround times from pre-Covid levels to support as many customers as possible.”
Paula Bertram-Lax, chief customer officer at independent protection adviser firm LifeSearch, said: “It’s so important to keep demonstrating the value of protection and that claims get paid even during pandemics.
“Quite a number of the families LifeSearch helped get protected have made and received Covid-related pay-outs and used them to clear debts and manage cash flow and provide for their future, so we know how essential these policies are for almost all families.
“It’s really important that both advisers and consumers are aware that life cover can be trusted to pay out and provide money when it’s surely needed most.”
