Scottish Widows has published details of its life and critical illness (CI) claims with an average of nearly £4 million paid out every week during 2012.
Scottish Widows paid out 98% of life and 88% of CI claims. The percentage of CI claims declined due to non-disclosure was 4% and claims where the definition was not met was 8%.
Life claims paid have totalled over £932 million or almost £1.5 million on average every week since 2000. CI claims paid over the same period total £574 million, or over £900,000 on average every week.
Since 2000, there have been over 27,435 individual claims paid for life cover and over 14,109 for CI cover. The total combined amount paid to customers is over £1.5 billion.
Over half (54%) of life claims made in 2012 were for cancer, followed by heart related conditions (18%). Meanwhile, for CI, the main three reasons for making a claim are cancer (62%), heart related illness (17%) and stroke (8%).
Scottish Widows has also announced its Income Protection (IP) claims for the first time. In 2012, Scottish Widows paid 83% of the 191 IP claims made. Of the number declined, 10% was due to non-disclosure and 7% where the definition was not met.
Katya Maclean, head of Bancassurance enablement and protection at Scottish Widows said: "We have supported over 40,000 individuals and families and the £4m we paid in life and CI claims every week last year shows the value of taking out cover.
"We will continue to work with the industry to change the traditional trigger points at which people purchase protection products away from simply taking out a mortgage. We would encourage everyone to think about their own need for protection when life circumstances change."
