LV= protection claim payouts hit almost £118million in 2020
- Covid claims hit £6.5m and accounted for more than 10% of death claims
- LV= expects cancer and mental health claims to rise over next 12 months
- Pandemic sparks rise in demand for remote health and welfare services
Protection specialist LV= paid record individual protection claims totalling nearly £118 million during 2020. LV= supported more than 9,000 claimants and their families paying 95% of all individual protection claims including life, critical illness and income protection.
Covid-related claims in 2020 totalled £6.5m and consisted of 619 death and 255 income-related claims. More than 10% of death claims in 2020 were for Covid-19.
As well as COVID-related claims, the pandemic has also led to a big rise in demand for daily benefits through LV= Doctor Services, which provides access to six expert medical services via app or phone. In 2020, remote GP appointments rose 88%, remote psychological services 496%, and remote physiotherapy 235%.
Debbie Kennedy, Director of Protection at LV=, said the impact of Covid-19 is likely to lead to a rise in mental health and cancer-related claims over the next two years.
About the claims
Full details are available in the LV= Claims Report 2020.
LV= paid out over £28million in Critical Illness claims in 2020. Cancer accounted for 60% of all critical illness claims, followed by heart attack (10%) and stroke (8%), with the highest payment of £500,000. Some 222 claims were made following a cancer diagnosis with breast (26%), prostate (11%) and colon (9%) accounting for most claims. LV= paid a total of £282,500 for claims involving children from newborn to 21 years old
Life assurance claims(including terminal illness claims) totalled almost £72million and the top causes for claims were cancer (43%), heart-related (17%) and Covid-19 (11%).
LV= paid nearly £14.6 million in Income Protection (IP)* claims to 1,000 individuals and families. Musculoskeletal issues (22%), cancer (18%) and mental health (15%), accounted for over half of all income protection claims. Mental health accounted for £4.9 million of new and existing income related claims.
Claims for Personal Sick Pay** protection, which is designed for self-employed and contract workers, totalled over £2.6m with payments made to 1,200 individuals. The youngest claimant was 21 and the top reasons for claims were musculoskeletal (35%), Covid-19 (23%) and fractures (13%).
In total, LV= paid 95% of protection claims in 2020. The remainder were declined for a variety of reasons including failing to disclose existing medical conditions, misrepresentation and fraud, and not meeting the policy definitions. LV= provides a breakdown of declined claims by product category and reasons in its latest claims report.