Bright Grey pays 96 per cent of life claims

As well as financial help, Bright Grey's menu plans also provide practical and emotional help through its Helping Hand service. A fully qualified nurse is on hand to provide advice, reassurance and coping strategies or can also recommend specific services such as bereavement counselling

Bereavement counselling on the NHS, or through specialist bereavement charities often comes with a long waiting list, but through Helping Hand a counsellor can be available within a matter of days.

Kevin Stevens, head of sales at Bright Grey said: "Rates are cheaper than they have ever been, but advisers shouldn't let the issue of price cloud their judgement when advising on life insurance. The single most important factor clients should be interested in when buying life insurance is whether it will pay out or not. So it makes sense that enormous consideration is given to providers' claims paid statistics.

"Beyond the statistics, another big consideration is the level of service claimants receive and how smoothly the claims process is. So, in order to really treat customers fairly and provide the best possible advice, advisers really need to compare providers and base their recommendations on this essential information."