Wiltshire's 2011 IP claims released

Wiltshire Friendly Society is the first insurer to publicise its 2011 Income Protection claims statistics.

The mutual reported 98.38% of all claims submitted being paid, an increase from 2010's figure of 97.63%.

During 2011 no claims were declined due to non-disclosure, which Wiltshire attributed to its underwriting process.

John Sanders, chief executive at Wiltshire, said: "The primary reason a small percentage of claims were declined was due claims being submitted for an excluded condition."

Sanders added the figures demonstrate the importance of a suitable underwriting process to ensure the potential new policyholder's health has been correctly considered.

"We are understandably extremely proud of our impressive claims payment record and by undertaking a robust underwriting process, including the use of Big T, we can be confident that the health of the policyholder has been fairly assessed," he said.

The Society's average claims payment now stands at 98.14% over the past 3 years and as a further and the Society has not had any Income Protection claim cases referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service for the past 6 years.