Legal & General has published data showing how much it paid out on individual protection claims in 2018.
The insurer has paid out over £638m across its Life, Critical Illness Cover, Terminal Illness Cover and Income Protection insurance products in 2018, the equivalent of £1.7m every day.
The figures raise the total amount Legal & General has paid in individual protection claims over the last five years to £2.9bn.
More than 14,000 Legal & General UK customers and their families have benefited from individual cover.
Life claims
Legal & General paid out £332.7m in 2018 across 10,046 claims, the equivalent of 28 a day. The insurer paid 97% of all life claims last year. The three main conditions were cancer (38%), cardiovascular disease (18%) and pneumonia (7%), with an average customer payout of £34,279.
Critical Illness claims
The equivalent of eight claims a day, 93% of Critical Illness claims (CIC), were paid out in 2018 by Legal & General. The insurer paid a total of £195.2m across 3,041 CIC claims. The most common conditions were cancer (65%), heart attacks (13%) and strokes (6%), with an average payout of £63,477.
Children’s Critical Illness claims
For Children’s Critical Illness (CCIC), Legal & General paid out to 115 customers, representing 96% of all CCIC claims. The average payout was £17,838. A cancer diagnosis was the reason behind the highest proportion (59%) of claims, followed by benign brain tumours (11%) and child funeral benefit (7%).
Terminal Illness claims
Legal & General paid out £107.3m across 1,023 Terminal Illness (TIC) claims in 2018, representing 97% of all TIC claims. The majority were caused by a cancer diagnosis (93%) and the average customer payout was £107,901.
Income Protection claims
Legal & General paid out 95% of all Income Protection claims (IP) supporting 474 people. The total figure paid out in 2018 was £1.15m. Musculoskeletal disorders (36%) was the leading cause for an IP claim, followed by mental health (20%) and cancer (15%).
Stephen Griffiths, managing director of UK protection at Legal & General, said: “Whether it’s helping customers to keep their family financially secure after the death of a loved one or assisting someone with a long-term illness to meet their mortgage repayments, these figures prove the vital impact this type of insurance can have on people’s lives. Managing a cancer diagnosis or overcoming the death of someone close is already hard enough without the added worry about financial security or keeping up with day-to-day costs.
“At Legal & General, we recognise the potentially life-changing role a life insurance or critical illness cover can make to our customers’ lives should the unimaginable happen. That’s why we are pleased to have paid out £2.9 billion in individual protection claims over the last five years, helping thousands of people in their time of need.”
