ProtectionMar 22 2023

Aviva pays out £1bn in protection claims for a third year

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Aviva pays out £1bn in protection claims for a third year
More than £683mn was paid out across 41,000 life insurance and terminal illness benefit claims by Aviva in 2022 (Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

Aviva paid out more than £1bn in individual protection claims for a third consecutive year in 2022, almost equivalent to £2.9mn being paid out every single day.

In total the protection provider paid out £1,071,000 to 50,000 individuals last year across life insurance, critical illness, income protection and other individual protection policies. 

For all income protection claims in 2022, the most common reason for claiming was mental health conditions, comprising 30 per cent of all claims. 

This was followed by musculoskeletal claims at 26 per cent and cancer related claims at 13 per cent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of customers who were under the age of 40 when they first claimed increased from 32 per cent in 2021 to 38 per cent in 2022.

Claims philosophy manager at Aviva, Jacqueline Kerwood noted that the firm has paid out over £5.1bn across more than 200,000 individual protection claims in the last five years. 

“Whilst we have a consistent track record for paying out claims, we are equally focused on going above and beyond our customers’ expectations of their policies and their cover.

 “We will be sharing Aviva’s Individual Protection Claims Report and hosting adviser webinar events in May, which will provide compelling evidence for advisers to share with customers when discussing the importance of having and keeping protection insurance in place,” Kerwood said.

Aviva noted that it has also sent out 650 gifts to “lift the spirits” of customers going through a claim, with around 440 sent to children and their families as part of its ‘Project Teddy’ initiative for children’s critical illness claims.

Total Aviva individual protection claims paid in 2022

 

 

Number of claims paid

 

Value of claims paid

 

% of claims paid

 

Life insurance

(inc: terminal illness benefit)

 

41,002

 

£683,638,563

 

99.4%

 

Critical illness

(inc: Children’s Benefit+Total Permanent Disability)

 

4,689

 

£334,070,894

 

93.5%

 

Income protection

 

3,683

 

£50,636,470

 

94.3%

 

Fracture cover

 

866

 

£2,185,300

 

89.7%

 

Hospital/Trauma/Therapy/Carer cover

 

355

 

£531,177

 

99.2%

 

Totals

 

50,595

 

£1,071,062,404

 

98.3%

 

Life insurance claims 

More than £683mn was paid out across 41,000 life insurance and terminal illness benefit claims by Aviva in 2022, with 99.4 per cent of all claims on life policies accepted.

Similar to previous years, cancer was the most common reason for a claim being made, accounting for a third (33 per cent) of all death and terminal illness claims.

This was followed by claims for cardiovascular disease at 21 per cent and respiratory disease at 13 per cent.

According to Aviva, 0.6 per cent of all life insurance and terminal illness claims received last year were declined, with two-thirds of these due to the customer misrepresenting relevant information at the point of application, for example their health and lifestyle.

Income protection claims 

Over £50mn in income protection benefit was paid out by Aviva in 2022 with just over 3,680 claims from customers unable to work due to illness or injury. 

An additional £7mn was also paid out in back to work benefit across 535 claims.

The longest income protection claim that Aviva has been paying out related to a mental health case and so far has been paid out for 35 years. To date the policy holder has received more than £415,000 through monthly benefit.

jane.matthews@ft.com