LV= CI approvals rise 3%, IP dips 1%

LV= paid 90% of claims across both critical illness (CI) and income protection (IP) last year.

This marks a 3% increase (from 87%) for CI in 2008, but a 1% slip for IP (from (91%), and both remain higher than the 2007 level of 86%.

Noticeably, the provider has seen an increase in rejections prompted by non-disclosure for both products since 2008, with CI non-disclosure rising to 3.3% (from 0.7%), and IP up to 3.4% (from 2.6%).

Not meeting the claim definition was the other reason given for rejection, with this totaling 6.7% of CI (12.6% in 2008) and 6.6% of IP (6.5%) claims.

The provider paid out nearly £40m to its protection policyholders last year, including £11.9m in income protection claims, and more than £7.9m in critical illness claims.

The top four causes of IP claims over the last 12 months were mental disorders (29%), musculoskeletal disorders (20%), circulatory system disorders (11%) and cancers (11%).

Cancer claims accounted for six out of ten CI claims (61%), rising from 57% in 2008, and the average critical illness payment was £72,500, up from £63,820 in 2008.

Mark Jones, head of protection at LV=, said: "Our consistently high and improving claims payment rate illustrates our firm commitment to support customers in their time of need, and to limit the risk of customer confusion at the point of applying for a policy.

"This success is in part down to investment in our tele-interviewing capability, exploring the reasons for non-disclosure rejections and putting measures in place to reduce them, and in intelligent underwriting.

"We want to make sure that advisers and consumers alike are fully aware of why claims can be rejected, so that we can all play a part in keeping rejections at a minimum," he added.

The provider has also produced separate claims performance guides designed for advisers to use with clients to help them understand why it is important to disclose full information when applying.

The guides can be found at www.lv.com/adviser.