Data from Cirencester Friendly show that just over a third of claims were made by Generation X, aged between 42 and 58, while boomers aged 59 and over accounted for 7.4 per cent.
Cirencester Friendly paid out 95.8 per cent of claims last year, totalling more than £9.3m.
Of the 1,229 income protection claims considered in 2023, 1,177 were paid. The 52 claims denied were either because no proof of income was given, the claimant had continuing income, or the information received was either submitted late or with inaccuracies.
Nearly one in 10 claims came from Gen Z policyholders aged between 17 and 26.
The mutual also published its Covid claims data, which have been managed separately to non-Covid claims. Between 2020 and 2023, 653 claims have been submitted, and of those, 589 have been paid out, a rate of just over 90 per cent. Some £618,151 has been paid out so far.
Claimant profiles
The average age of male claimants was 40, while it was 42 for women.
The most common reason for men to make a claim was accidents, making up 41 per cent of claims. This was followed by musculoskeletal conditions and arthritis at 29 per cent, then hip and knee problems at 10 per cent.
Accidents were the reason for 18 per cent of claims from women, while musculoskeletal conditions and arthritis was the most common reason, accounting for 23 per cent of claims.
Some 16 per cent of women’s claims were due to mental health conditions. The mutual said this was higher than for men, where just four per cent of claims were related to mental health.
Michelle West-Wiggins, director of customer experience at Cirencester Friendly, said: “Our mission is to be here when our members need us the most, and these claims figures demonstrate we are living up to this goal. However, we cannot afford to be complacent.
“There is always more we can do to ensure both advisers and members are clear about when they can claim and can do so as quickly and easily as possible. We’ll be working hard throughout 2024 and beyond to enhance our claim and digital proposition and build even closer relations with our partners to make this happen.”
She added: “As a mutual society, we are proud to often go above and beyond what is required or expected to make a genuine difference.”
In summer last year, Cirencester Friendly was added to the TMA Club’s protection panel.
