Progress from Royal Liver has released its first batch of claims statistics

The provider, which is now five years old, paid out £7.5m in benefits to customers between 01/01/09 and 31/10/09.

Ninety per cent of life only claims were paid out in this period, while 86% of critical illness claims were paid, with the remaining 14% not meeting the policy definitions.

Royal Liver had no critical illness claims declinations due to non disclosure.

The provider has not released income protection claims data, saying this is due to the low level of claims it has received.

Aidan Dewhurst, IFA marketing manager at Progress, explained why the company has not released previous claims levels: "£7.5m is still a really low figure and, while that figure has increased over the last five years, even a small increase will really be significant in terms of percentages."

Andy Milburn, head of marketing at Munich Re, said: "Without an industry wide standard claims template it's always difficult to compare claims figures from younger providers with those that are more established in the market.

"Our experience tells us that this is unlikely to be a fair comparison, because on the whole figures will improve year on year.