Cirencester Friendly paid 94.7% of claims submitted in 2017, totaling £4.4m in sick pay benefit.

The income protection provider said the total of £4.4m was a 9.2% increase on 2016.

It revealed that the principal reasons for not admitting claims were, that claims were in respect of pre-existing disabilities that had not been disclosed and where there was no actual loss of earnings.

The most common reason behind making a claim was accident or injury which accounted for 40% of applications, highlighting the value of insuring against the risk of less obvious causes of lost earnings. Some other claims listed included depression, cancer, heart or circulatory complications and back, neck and shoulder problems.

Rebecca Young, head of marketing at Cirencester Friendly, said: “We exist to support our members financially when they need us most and that is why I am pleased to once again, be able to report such positive claims statistics.

“The publication of claims statistics demonstrates our commitment to our members. We feel a transparent approach to the payment of claims is so important, to help boost consumer confidence of protection products.

“Many providers publish claims statistics and I would urge advisers to use these figures along with case studies to dispel customer concerns and emphasise the need for good income protection cover.”