Life Insurance  

Only 25% have life insurance, despite £9m payouts a day

Only 25% have life insurance, despite £9m payouts a day

Only a quarter of UK households have life insurance, yet protection providers pay out more than £9m every day in financial support to families to help them cope with illness, injury or the death of a loved one.

New statistics from the Association of British Insurers showed that UK insurers pay out the equivalent of £77m total insurance claims every day.

Of this figure, £9m is paid from protection policies such as critical illness, income protection and life insurance, £7m to help private health insurance customers receive medical treatment, £9m to business customers in commercial liability claims, such as employers’ liability and £9m in accident and health claims.

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The remainder is paid out to motorists to repair vehicles and cover injury claims, property claims, medical treatment for pets and travellers under travel insurance who needed medical help away from home.

Data also revealed that last year there were 20.8m individual pension policies in force. In the first three months since the April at-retirement reforms, £2.5bn was paid out from pension pots - more than £2.3bn being used to buy regular income products such as annuities or income drawdown.

The ABI found that while other forms of insurance were increasingly purchased direct, long-term savings products tend to be taken with advice. Three quarters of customers had some form of advice to buy a pension, protection or other long-term product.

Its ‘key facts’ release also confirmed that UK insurers manage assets of £1,900bn, the equivalent to a quarter of the UK’s net worth, or £71,000 per household. The industry overall employs 334,000 people.

Huw Evans, the ABI’s director general, commented that the UK insurance market, the largest in Europe and third largest in the world, makes a vital contribution to the economy, in addition to the individuals it helps on a daily basis.

“However, there is some work to be done to build confidence in products, tackle underinsurance and help more people understand the value of protecting themselves.”

peter.walker@ft.com