Aegon UK has today published claims data which shows a total of £116m was paid out in protection claims to 1,500 customers, families and businesses in 2015.
Aegon paid out £33m for critical illness claims in 2015, which represented an increase in the claims paid rate from 93% in 2014 to 97% in 2015.
The average size of claim paid was £80,000 with the highest claim of £500,000 being paid out to three claims for prostate, ovarian and kidney cancer.
Overall 0.5% of claims were declined because of misrepresentation and 2.5% claims were declined for not meeting the definition.
The top three reasons for claiming remained the same with over eight out of ten claims for cancer, heart attack or stroke. Cancer accounted for 65% of all claims.
The published figures revealed 85% of income protection claims were paid and 98% of all life claims were paid in 2015.
However, Aegon said "the proportion of income protection policies on Aegon's book of business is relatively small meaning that a single claim can have a disproportionate influence either positively or negatively on the overall claims paid figure. "
Dougy Grant, protection director at Aegon UK [pictured], said: "It's very encouraging that year after year we're making a real difference by continually increasing the number of claims we're paying. Having such a high payment record underlines our desire to pay out on as many claims as possible."
