Scottish Provident paid out almost £47 million to its critical illness policy holders during the first six months of 2011.

This represented 91% all claims made were paid.

The average payout was £81,434, with the largest payout just over £945,000. The average age of a claimant was 47 years old.

2.6% of all claims made were rejected for reasons of non-disclosure.

Over the course of the year to 30 June, over £30 million was paid out for cancer claims, with these accounting for 65% of the total claims paid. Nearly £7 million was paid out for heart attack claims, with heart attacks making up 13% of all claims.

Jennifer Gilchrist, senior product development manager, Scottish Provident said: “We get a great deal of satisfaction paying out claims and being able to support claimants and their families at a difficult time in their lives.