Friends Life paid out 87% of all new IP claims in 2012, having received 497 claims. Of these, 45 (9%) were declined because the medical definition was not met, with 18 (4%) declined due to non-disclosure.
Friends Life paid out a total of £21m to 2,300 IP customers during 2012; 1,553 new and existing claims were reviewed and 96% continued to receive payments.
Friends Life is the last major provider to publish IP claims statistics amid much industry pressure following Bright Grey and Scottish Provident’s statistics earleir in the month.
It has said however it is continuing to call for the industry to work with the ABI towards a consistent basis on which insurance firms disclose this information in the future.
The insurer said that without a consistent basis the data could be misleading for both advisers and consumers.
Chris Pollard, head of underwriting for claims and operations for Friends Life Individual Protection, said: “We have listened to the market sentiment and are happy to reveal that, in 2012, we paid out 87% of income protection claims. However, we remain concerned there is no consistent basis on which the industry discloses its income protection claims statistics other than via the ABI.
“Disclosure and transparency are positive things for the industry, but we strongly believe that the figures themselves need to be meaningful so as not to lead to incorrect conclusions.”
Friends Life will continue to lobby for a consistent basis for disclosure to ensure that, in 2014, each provider reports on the same basis and in line with a structure agreed through the ABI.
