Cirencester friendly pays 94% of IP claims; urges industry to follow

Cirencester friendly paid 94% of its valid income protection (IP) claims totalling £2.7m in 2010 and reiterated its call for other providers follow suit.

It believes a unified approach by the industry would encourage consumer confidence and allow advisers to easily compare products.

The friendly society issued a detailed breakdown of its statistics for the last 12 months that showed it received 884 claims, paying 808 in total.

Of the original 884, 2.8% (25) could not continue for either being an already excluded medical condition, the claim ending during the deferred period or the claim occurring during the initial 30 day waiting period.

From the remaining 859 eligible claims, 6% (51) were declined, with the 94% paid rate equalling 2009's mark.

Reasons for being declined included: proof of earnings could not be supplied; medical evidence could not be supplied; no loss of earnings; non-disclosure; contract was in arrears; claim was submitted too late.

Over a quarter, nearly 28% of claims paid were for accidents or injuries, something the provider said this highlighted the need for protecting against the effect an accident can have on earnings.

Paul Hudson, CEO of Cirencester friendly, used the opportunity to hit out at the rest of the IP industry and urged it to agree a template for all providers to reveal their claims data.

"We have been publishing our claims statistics for many years now and continue to be one of just a handful of providers that do so in such a transparent fashion," he said.

"Cirencester friendly gives a detailed explanation of how the claims statistics are compiled, including the reasons for non payment. This provides a very transparent picture of the criteria on which we base our decisions and helps to educate members and IFA's on how to ensure a positive outcome to a claim.

"A unified industry wide claims statistics format would also help to provide a true benchmark for both advisers and consumers to compare products and enable them to make an informed choice when selecting income protection insurance.

"This should be encouraged across the protection industry to inspire consumer confidence in protection products for the future," he added.