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According to the report, due to be published later this week, the 1387 payments made during the 12-month period make up nearly 85 per cent of total claims received with a further five per cent pending and the remainder declined for either non-disclosure or "criteria not met". In 2006 around 80 per cent of the 1306 claims were paid.

The most common claim was for cancer, making up more than 60 per cent of the total, followed by heart attacks with 11 per cent and multiple sclerosis, six per cent.

Individual payouts ranged from £488,060 paid out to a 61-year-old male marketing assistant with brain cancer to £12,229.20 paid out to a 63-year-old housewife for heart surgery. The average sum was £77,000.

Table: Critical Illness payouts 2006 and 2007

Trevor Bailey, protection marketing director for Norwich Union, said the document was aimed at "dispelling some of the myths around critical illness cover".

He said: "We mean the worry some people have that 'if you take this policy out it will not be paid'. We wanted to show that we have paid £106m out and also to show that here are all the illnesses you can get that we pay out for."

The 12-page report states: "Treating customers fairly is of paramount importance to Norwich Union and our aim is to pay all legitimate claims as quickly as possible.

"Critical illness claims are paid if you have a valid policy and the claim meets the policy criteria. A valid policy means that there has been full disclosure to the questions asked at the application stage, the policy is still in force at the time of the claim and the premiums are up-to-date."

Friends Provident released equivalent figures in May, with nearly 87 per cent of claims paid at an increase of five per cent on 2006 and a total cost of £36m.

Andy Parkinson, technical claims manager for Friends Provident, said: "The percentage of critical illness claims we pay to continue to increase".

He said: "We were ahead of the market in introducing changes early last year, which meant we paid claims where there was unrelated non-disclosure.

"However we have built on that and - having made a significant contribution to the development of this year's ABI guidance on non-disclosure and treating customers fairly - we immediately implemented that guidance in full."

In March Zurich announced it had paid 710 claims worth £50m in 2007, 88 per cent of the total and up on 702 the previous year.

Peter Hamilton, proposition management director for Zurich Life UK, said: "We have a clear philosophy and a proud history of paying valid claims quickly as a protection office, our overall mission is to pay claims.

"As an industry we often lose sight of the massive positive difference we do make to thousands of lives through the payment of millions of pounds in claims."