Cirencester Friendly paid 95.2% of income protection claims in 2018, an increase on last year’s figure of 94.7%.

During the year a total of 973 applications for claim were made, of which 94.7% were eligible for consideration. This left 948 claims to be considered and of these, 903 (95.2%) were paid, totalling almost £4.8 million in benefit.

Reasons for rejecting claims included the inability to either provide proof of earnings or medical evidence, no loss of earnings following the illness or injury and non-disclosure.

The most common reason behind making a claim was accident or injury which accounted for 38% of applications. Some other claims listed included depression, cancer, heart or circulatory complications as well as back, neck and shoulder problems.

The specialist individual income protection provider has published its claim statistics annually for nine years; however, it believes that it is not the frequency, or in fact the overall figure that is important but the transparency applied and demonstrated to advisers and consumers.

Paul Hudson (pictured), chief executive at Cirencester Friendly said: “I am delighted to report such positive claim statistics and an increase in claims paid to 95.2%.

“There has always been a strong belief amongst consumers that illness or injury simply won’t happen to them and that if it does, the government will provide sufficient financial support. This is sadly misguided and we seek to dispel this myth. Likewise, consumers appear to broadly believe that insurance companies do not pay claims.

Cirencester Friendly do pay claims and publishing our claims statistics in the level of detail that we do, enables us to help advisers and their clients understand why we very occasionally need to decline a claim, in turn helping alleviate customer concerns whilst emphasising the need for good income protection cover.

“As a mutual organisation, we exist to support our members when they are genuinely unable to earn a living because of illness or injury. The publication of claims statistics demonstrates our commitment to our members when they need us most.”