Cirencester Friendly paid 94% of claims in 2020

Cirencester Friendly has revealed it paid 94% of claims in 2020, maintaining its 10-year average.

Cirencester Friendly paid 94% of claims in 2020

Cirencester Friendly has revealed it paid 94% of claims in 2020, maintaining its 10-year average.

During the year a total of 1,434 claim applications were made, of which 98.3% were eligible for consideration.

This left 1,410 claims to be considered and of these, 94% were paid.

Reasons for rejecting claims included the inability to either provide proof of earnings or medical evidence, no loss of earnings or for previously undisclosed pre-existing conditions.

The greatest number of claims in 2020 were for accident or injury at 29.9%, followed by 15.5% of all claims, which were paid for COVID-19, resulting in the common infectious disease category increasing from 4.7% to 19.5%.

According to Cirencester Friendly, more than £7.8m in benefit was paid out to members.

Paul Hudson, chief executive at Cirencester Friendly, said: “The acid test for any income protection contract is will it pay out when the customer makes a claim?

“With an already proven track record in paying claims I am delighted that 2020 was no different and that we continued to support claimants in a variety of ways, including when they needed financial support.

“2020 has been a remarkable and unprecedented year.

"As a result of very careful business continuity planning and preparation we were able to continue operating without interruption and maintain great levels of service to our members and supporters.

“A testament to the resilience, dedication and hard work by everyone at Cirencester Friendly”.