Covid-19-related group life assurance claims paid during 2021 rose 80 per cent compared to the previous year, according to data from Gen Re.
Gen Re has collected data from group life providers for Grid, analysing Covid-19 claims paid throughout 2021. It found that the amount paid out for Covid-19-related deaths increased to £168.3m from £93m in 2020.
This includes 1,578 lump-sum death benefit claims, as well as the capitalised value of 24 dependants’ pension claims in which Covid-19 was listed as the major or secondary cause of death on the death certificate or the claim form.
For Covid-19 claims, the average lump-sum death benefit payout was £100,387, while the average capitalised value of the dependants’ pensions paid was £410,950.
Grid spokesperson Katharine Moxham says: “Employees are increasingly looking to their employers to help them through the challenges they’ve faced during the pandemic, and this is for all areas of health and wellbeing, including financial. The figures released today represent hundreds of families that have been supported because of an employee benefit, and we’d encourage more employers to offer this to staff.”
