Grid claims stats ‘beyond what FCA asking’ – Moxham

Group life policies paid out £877m, while annualised benefits of £318m were paid out on group income protection. There were £50m worth of payouts on group critical illness policies. 

The claims statistics, which also reveal the breakdown of benefits paid out by product show an increase in claims paid for group life, group income protection and group critical illness with an extra £16m, £13m and £9m paid out respectively over the previous year.

This is the first time Grid has co-ordinated standardise protocols for reporting on percentages of new claims paid during 2013, with universal participation by all group risk insurers. The group risk industry paid out 99.6 per cent of claims on group life, 82 per cent on group income protection and 81 per cent on group critical illness. 

Group risk benefits are much valued by employees and also support society and the UK as the payments help families avoid financial distress and can reduce the welfare spend. 

 The main causes of claim were cancer (46 per cent) and heart disease (17 per cent) for group life, cancer (25 per cent) and mental illness (24 per cent) for new group income protection claims and cancer (69 per cent) and heart attack (10 per cent) for group critical illness.

Grid spokesperson Katharine Moxham says: “We are pleased to once again bring together these figures, providing a unique insight into the collective contribution the group risk industry makes to supporting British families and conclusive proof of the value of employer sponsored group protection policies for their workers.

“Grid has voluntarily published group risk claims data since 2011. For the first time this year, Grid has published claims paid percentages following a rigorous framework to ensure both credibility and consistency. Grid and the group risk industry as a whole are committed to championing transparency and best practice and our claims reporting is demonstrative of this. Our commitment to publishing this data has gone well beyond what the FCA mandates and is in the true spirit of transparency.”