General Insurance Article - Group Risk industry has another record breaking year

 As well as financial payments, group risk insurers help people in many other ways. Julie’s story below gives just one example of how group risk policies provide practical support for policy members. Like Julie, a total of 4,944 people were helped back to work by group risk insurers after a period of sick leave, and a further 7,879 people were assisted by the industry during 2017 through referrals to help and support funded by group risk insurers. 

 Total benefits paid
 Group Life Assurance policies paid out total benefits to the value of £1.067 billion (on a par with 2016); Group Income Protection policies paid out a total of £466.5 million p.a.(an increase of £107.8 million p.a. over 2016); Group Critical Illness policies paid out benefits totalling £84.3 million (an increase of £12.7 million over 2016).

 The average claim amounts (£113,479 for group life; £24,257 p.a. for group income protection; £71,463 for group critical illness) again demonstrate that these are not just benefits for top earners – these benefits throw a vital financial lifeline to people at the worst times, regardless of their salary, age or position.

 Total claims paid and average new claim amounts

 * All values are rounded
 **Value of claims in payment as at 31 December 2017 and any claims paid for part of 2017. The figures for group income protection represent one year's worth of benefit payment. Group income protection claims are often paid for several or many years so the ultimate value of these benefits will be much higher.
 ***During 2017 there were 5,454 new group income protection claims, totalling £132.3m pa and averaging £24,257 pa.

 Facilitating return to work
 For group income protection, as well as the claims paid, there are a material number of cases each year where people are helped back to work both before and after a claim becomes payable, often with the support of the insurer, the employer or both.

 GRiD has again captured details of the cases where the insurer supported a return to work with active early intervention (such as fast-track access to counselling or physiotherapy, funded by the insurer) before that person was eligible for a monetary payment. 2,989 people (33.1% of all claims submitted, up six percentage points on 2016) were able to go back to work during 2017 because of such early intervention (of which, 52% had help to overcome mental illness and 17% had support overcoming a musculoskeletal condition).

 On top of this, for the first time, GRiD has also captured details of cases to demonstrate that once a claim is in payment, help and support back to work is still given and people are not forgotten. Of the 5,255 group income protection claims that went into payment during 2016, 1,955 people were helped by the insurer to make a full return to work during that year or during 2017.

 Help and support
 As well as paying claims and helping people back to work, group risk insurers give access to everyday services that can be used to help and support people on a day-to-day basis. This is via a number of ways, including:
 An associated Employee Assistance Programme.
 Facilitating a second medical opinion
 Fast-track access to counselling, physiotherapy or treatment
 Helping people make changes towards better health behaviours
 Liaison and mediation
 Bereavement support and help with probate

 For the first time, GRiD has captured the number of referrals that group risk insurers have made to these services. 7,879 people accessed extra help and support during 2017 following a referral by a group risk insurer. This is in addition to countless self-referrals.

 Main cause of claim
 Cancer was a main cause of claim across all three products – with the highest for Group Critical Illness (68%), followed by Group Life Assurance (43%) and Group Income Protection (24.2%). Mental illness was marginally the top cause of claim for Group Income Protection (24.5%).

 Main causes of claim across all group risk products

 Paying claims
 Group risk insurers always look for reasons to pay claims but it’s important for all policyholders that only valid claims are paid, in the same way as it is for (say) motor insurance. Otherwise the cost of these benefits would increase unfairly for everyone.

 Very few claims are declined for group life assurance.

 For group income protection and group critical illness claims, the numbers declined are higher. A common reason for this is that it can sometimes be difficult for an employer to be sure that the claim an employee wants to make is either genuine or something that is valid under the policy. The advice given to them generally is to submit the claim for the group risk insurer to consider. In these circumstances, the employer can then uphold their role and meet their obligations as the employee’s advocate. Such claims are captured as declined in GRiD’s reporting, even where there would have been no real expectation on the employer’s (and often the employee’s) behalf that the claim would be paid.

 The table below highlights the main reasons for declining claims across all three group risk products. There is further explanation and detail in the attached FAQs document.

 Main reasons for declining claims across all group risk products

 Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, commented: “Once again, it’s great to be able to show how employer-sponsored group risk protection benefits support people through some really difficult times through a financial pay-out as well as in other ways.

 “GRiD’s latest employer research cites the key reasons why employers provide group risk benefits. These include helping with recruitment and retention/differentiating their company, being able to recoup the costs in improved productivity and team morale, and paternalism.

 “Enlightened employers see exactly how group risk benefits and their inherent additional services help with engagement and productivity, support employee wellbeing and enable a business to fulfil its duty of care. They also ensure fair and consistent treatment of people, and can put businesses in a prime position to comply with their role in the Government’s ambitions for healthier and more inclusive workforces.

 “One size doesn’t fit all – people’s needs are met when they are treated as individuals. These figures illustrate the very real difference that group risk protection products make to peoples’ lives day in and day out.”

 Please also see the accompanying FAQs document.