Legal & General Retail Protection paid more claims than ever before last year, a total of £483 million combined death and critical illness claims in 2012, up from £441 million in 2011 and over £1.2 billion paid out since 2009.

Legal & General paid 97.6% of Life Claims, 93.1% of Critical Illness claims in 2012 and 91% of Income Protection Benefit claims.

The Life Claim figures for 2012 are as follows:

• £274 million paid in 2012 compared to £264 million in 2011
• Finalised claims increased by 279 to 5815
• There was a 5% increase in claims finalised compared to 2011

The Critical Illness figures for 2012 are as follows:

• Total number of Critical illness claims paid 3,080
• £67,535 is the average amount paid per critical illness claim
• Average age of claimant 48 years
• Cancer remains the number one reason for a critical illness claim

The Income Protection Benefit figures for 2012 are as follows:

• 49% of claims paid in 2012 received more than £500 of benefit each month
• Average age of claimant 42 years
• The three reasons for claiming IPB were Musculosketal, Mental illness and Neurological

Russell Whitworth, underwriting and claims director for Legal & General’s Retail Protection business, said: “Our priority is to help people when they are at their most vulnerable and to pay as many claims as we can, as soon as we can.

“Customers who are having to cope with a critical illness want the peace of mind that their claim is paid so they can concentrate on their health. On average we pay out eight claims a day.

“We continue in our work to reduce non-disclosure and only 2.3% of claims in 2012 were repudiated purely for medical non-disclosure.

“4.6% of claims did not meet the definition as set out by the ABI Best Practice for Critical Illness, to which Legal & General adheres.

“With advances in medical science more people are surviving a critical illness but it also means that they will need some form of financial support to help them during their treatment, recovery and in some cases to help them live with their illness.

“These figures show just how important critical illness cover is.”