Insurer Aegon paid out more than £120m in protection claims last year.
The company paid out on 98 per cent of life claims and 94 per cent of critical illness claims.
This represented a one percentage point fall in critical illness claims paid out, while life claims remained steady.
The average size of life protection claim paid was £84,648 and the average age at claim was 61-years-old.
Cancer continued to be the most common cause of death in a life claim (42 per cent), followed by heart-related conditions (23 per cent).
On income protection, Aegon UK paid 96 per cent of new claims received and more than £426,000 in regular monthly benefits.
Cancer was the most common reason for income protection claims (29 per cent) in 2017.
Simon Jacobs, head of claims and underwriting at Aegon, said income protection data was very variable due to the small number of claims:
He said: "With only 25 claims received last year, a single decline can make a big difference. The number of claims paid has remained static.
"However, while we don't believe this data can provide any meaningful like-for-like comparison, we continue to share it for the sake of complete transparency for both advisers and customers."
The previous year it paid 85 per cent of income protection claims.
Mr Jacobs added that Aegon "has reported its claims experience for more than 10 years".
He said: "In this time we have worked closely with advisers to reduce incidents of misrepresentation and ensure that customers have the best claims experience."
