Cirencester Friendly has revealed that it paid 94% of claims in 2015. 

During 2015 a total of 787 applications were made, of which 97.6% were eligible for consideration. This left 768 claims to be considered and of these 725 (94%) were paid – a total of £3.2 million in sick pay benefit.

Reasons for rejecting claims included proof of earnings not be able to be supplied; no loss of earnings occurred and non-disclosure.

The highest reason for making a new claim in 2015 was for accident or injury (29%).

Paul Hudson (pictured), chief executive said: “We are committed to supporting our Members when they need us most and we are thrilled to be able to report another year of very positive claims figures.

“Unfortunately the unfounded fear of claims being declined continues to impact the sale of income protection across the entire insurance industry, which is why we feel a transparent approach to the payment of claims is so important, both for consumer confidence and the negative perception that many intermediaries have of protection products.

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