LV= paid record individual protection claims totalling over £119 million during 2021.

The insurer supported more than 9,000 claimants and their families paying 96% of all individual protection claims including life, critical illness and income protection.

LV= also reported strong demand for additional support through LV= Doctor Services, which provides access to six medical services via app or phone. In 2021, remote GP appointments rose by 13%, with 97% of appointments offered within four hours.

The firm paid out over £28 million in Critical Illness claims in 2021 to 362 individuals and families. Cancer accounted for 58% of all critical illness claims, followed by heart attack (11%) and stroke (8%), with the highest payment of £449,982.

Almost six in 10 claims were made following a cancer diagnosis with breast (32%), bowel (12%) and prostate (7%) accounting for most claims. LV= paid a total of £223,250 for claims involving children from newborn to 18 years old.

Life assurance claims (including terminal illness and 50+ claims) totalled almost £74m, supporting 6,677 families and their loved ones. The top causes for claims were cancer (39%), Covid-19 (16%) and heart-related conditions (15%).

LV= paid nearly £13.6 million in Income Protection (IP) claims to nearly 1,000 individuals and families. Musculoskeletal issues (20%), fractures (20%) and cancer (17%) , representing nearly 58% of all income protection claims. Some 63% of claimants were male.

Claims for Personal Sick Pay protection, which is designed for self-employed and contract workers, totalled over £ 2.7m with payments made to 1,112 individuals. The youngest claimant was 19 and the top reasons for claims were musculoskeletal (37%), Covid-19 (21%) and fractures (11%).

Covid-related claims in 2021 totalled almost £12m and included 724 life assurance claims. Some 16% of death claims totalling £11.3m in 2021 were for Covid-19. Covid accounted for 209 income claims paid to over 900 individuals and families.

In total, LV= paid 96% of protection claims in 2021. The remainder were not paid for a variety of reasons including failing to disclose existing medical conditions, misrepresentation and fraud, and not meeting the policy definitions. LV= provides a breakdown of these claims by product category and reasons in its latest claims report.

Anna Rogers, head of underwriting and claims at LV=, said: “Reflecting on the past year, I am proud to say that LV= continues to pay more claims and more importantly offers support when our customers need us most. Behind each of these statistics is a real person or a family with a unique story. Our help doesn’t start and end with a claim payment.

“In 2021, Covid continued to dominate our lives and was a key element in our claims experience across multiple products. We do expect to see these claims reduce as we continue to live with the virus and testing decreases.

“Those in the industry know that supporting individuals and their families going through a life-changing event is the reason why we do what we do. The LV= Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor revealed that one in four didn’t have protection insurance because they didn’t know enough about it. We still have some way to go to build public trust and demonstrate just how important protection is.”