Income protection business Cirencester Friendly paid 94% of claims in 2014, totalling £3.3m in sick pay benefit.

Last year, a total of 784 applications were made to the society, of which 97.8% were eligible for consideration. This left 767 claims to be considered and of these, 720 were paid. Reasons for rejecting claims included: inability to provide proof of earnings, inability to supply medical evidence, no loss of earnings resulted from the injury/illness, non-disclosure and the contract being in arrears.

The most common reason behind making a claim was accident or injury which accounted for 27% of applications. Other claims listed depression, cancer, heart or circulatory complications and back, neck and shoulder problems.

Paul Hudson CEO at Cirencester Friendly, said: “We are committed to supporting our members when they need us most. That is why I am pleased to, once again, be able to report such positive claims statistics.

“We were one of the very first firms to publish these figures to ensure transparency whilst also giving advisers the confidence to entrust their clients to us.

“In 2015, we celebrate our 125th anniversary and we will continue to support advisers and underscore how important income protection is for their clients. This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the most common reason for claiming, both in 2014 and in previous years, was accident or injury. I would encourage all advisers to ensure that their clients are well informed and properly prepared for an inability to work through sickness or ill-health.”