Unum UK paid more than £471m in claims in 2023 – including £229m for income protection, £160m for life insurance and £43m for critical illness cover.
This was up from £395m in claims in 2022, which itself was up by £29m on the year previous.
The employee benefits provider achieved a record breaking 97% return-to-work success rate for individuals, up from 95% in 2022, supported by its group income protection rehabilitation service. This was despite referrals increasing by 35% overall.
And with access to NHS dentistry becoming ever more challenging, Unum’s dental claims payments rose by 29% at the end of 2023, exceeding £31m overall.
The provider also revealed mental health conditions now account for almost half (49%) of all rehabilitation referrals to Unum, a 37% increase from the previous year.
Unum’s Help@hand app also saw an increase in people seeking mental health help during the same timeframe, with 37% of all bookings now mental-health related.
Against a backdrop of consistently high NHS backlogs, cancer remained the leading cause of claim across all of Unum’s group risk products (69% for critical illness cover, 39% for life insurance, and 30% for income protection).
Paula Coffey, director of claims, rehabilitation and medical services at Unum, said: “Helping people in challenging times is why we exist as a business and what matters to us most.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve in the areas that make a real difference to people, and having such an experienced in-house team enables us to do exactly that.
“We’ve significantly increased our support and training for line managers to help businesses spot and recognise the signs of distress, placing a particular emphasis on the importance of early referrals and its positive impact on either enabling a successful return to work or preventing absence from the outset.
“That’s because our experience shows us that a successful return to work is centred on truly understanding the individual, and where we draw on our expertise to support people.
“It’s an ethos that is central to our company values and why we always take the time to individualise the support we provide our customers.”
