In 2015, protection specialist LV= paid out 96% of all new individual protection claims, totalling £56 million over the year. This means that - on average - LV= paid more than £1 million per week and in doing so helped nearly 5,000 families.
Overall, LV= paid 100% of 50 Plus claims and unemployment claims, 99% of terminal illness claims, 97% of death claims, 92% of income protection claims, and 91% of critical illness claims.
LV= continually reviews the claims service and support it provides to customers and their families. It has invested more in rehabilitation staff, underlining the insurer’s commitment to helping customers return to work, or to create opportunities for a new career.
The company has also been investing in technology to help simplify and speed up the claims process. LV= now settles more than 70% of 50 Plus claims over the phone, without the customer needing to send a completed claim form in the post, and most dependants receive pay outs within just three days. It is extending the same philosophy across other protection products and will soon be using digital and smartphone technology to allow customers to provide medical evidence and exchange scanned documents and images.
Myles Rix, Managing Director of Protection at LV= said: “Protection policies offer a financial safety net to households at an extremely difficult time but we know that some consumers worry that claiming will be a hard process. We are releasing these numbers to make it clear that in the overwhelming majority of cases we pay out, and so advisers can use this information to demonstrate the real benefits of these products to their clients.
“As a mutual we are different from other companies, as we don’t have shareholders and are here to serve our members – this allows us to really be there for them, particularly in their time of need. For example, all LV= protection policyholders automatically quality for LV= member benefits, including access to the LV= Health and Wellbeing Line, which offers the policy holder and their family free access to medical, counselling and legal experts throughout the whole term of the policy.”