Protection payouts total £14m a day

Protection insurers paid more than 153,700 claims in total last year, with 97% of group and individual protection claims paid overall.

Steve Berry, Protection Manager for First Complete, commented: “Protection insurance is often wrongly perceived as an opportunity for brokers to upsell, offering little benefit to the customer. The ABI’s latest figures highlight not only the importance of having protection insurance, but just how regularly it is paid out. However, protection is clearly still being undersold, particularly income protection.

“Moving forward, the perception of brokers selling protection needs to change. Too often brokers efforts in selling protection are dismissed as ‘life assurance salesmen just looking for a commission’. Well I know some quality brokers who are justly proud to call themselves ‘life assurance salesmen’ because in times of trouble they create money for their customers where none existed before. So, alongside these figures we therefore need to see hard hitting facts about the financial reality of not being covered.”