Legal & General has revealed that it paid out an average of over £2.5 million in retail protection claims a day in 2023, providing over £921 million to customers in claims across Life Insurance, Income Protection and Critical Illness products.

In total, 18,696 claims were paid across Legal & General’s protection product offering. This represents a 5% increase on the previous year.

Over the past five years, Legal & General has paid out over £4 billion in claims to its protection customers.

In 2023, claims with a combined value of over £765,000 were paid to customers who had previously considered cancelling. One customer took out a Critical Illness policy in 2015 with their partner. They contacted Legal & General as they were considering cancelling the policy after paying off the mortgage and starting a new job which had life insurance included as an employee benefit. Legal & General’s customer service team were able to explain that the CIC policy was not linked to the mortgage and reiterated the benefits of the policy to help them decide if the cover was still needed. When their partner was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour later in the year, Legal & General was able to support the couple with a successful claim for £120k.

David Banks, director of claims and underwriting at Legal & General Retail, said: “We are proud of our claims paying record and the ability to help individuals and their families during their time of need. We have supported more people than ever in 2023, demonstrating the value of protection, especially at a time of rising living costs and financial uncertainty.

“At Legal & General, we’re committed to ensuring more people have and keep their cover in place. Our customer story shows that communicating the value of protection throughout a person’s journey, and not just at the point of sale, can contribute to better customer outcomes.

“Beyond paying the claim, we also offer our customers extensive umbrella benefits – a package of value-added services and optional benefits. Our additional wellbeing services include a range of emotional and physical health support. All of which can have a positive impact on our customer’s lives before, during and after a claim.”