Zurich pays 99% of UK claims totalling nearly £1bn in H1

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54 general insurance claims were for over £1m each

Zurich has today announced that it paid out 99% of its UK claims in the first half of 2017, with payments totalling a sum of £958m.

Over 99% of all general insurance claims were paid, with 54 claims for more than £1m each.

They paid out 97% of all retail life claims including critical illness and income protection insurance during H1, while 95% of consumer home claims were paid.

Highlights of Zurich’s £958 million paid in claims in H1:

General Insurance Products	Life products
Received over 100,800 new claims in H1 worth £747.8m Just over half were motor claims, with the rest split between casualty and property. [need to check this]	Over 2000 new protection claims made in H1
95% consumer home claims paid. Where customers weren’t paid, the main reasons were misunderstanding what they could claim for, wear and tea and not having the right cover in place.	95% of critical illness, 86% income protection and 98% life claims paid in H1.
99% of consumer motor claims paid	Average CI payment made during H1 was being £76k and monthly benefit for IP was over £1400
99% of claims paid for commercial customers	£81k was paid in claims for children and £46k was paid to four customers with partial claims* (payments on newer policies for less advanced diagnosis of certain conditions such as cancer)
54 payments of over £1m	Cancer was the biggest cause of critical illness claims and mental illness and musculoskeletal for income protection

Zurich’ s UK chief claims officer, David Nichols said: “We are committed to publishing our claim statistics right across the business to help reassure our customers that the vast majority of claims are paid year on year.

“We are hugely proud of our claims record and sharing this information so that more people understand insurance and its benefits.”

Zurich went on to explain why some retail property claims were paid, stating the reason was customers make claims for damage caused by wear and tear, and customers not having the appropriate cover in place.

Of the 3% of retail life claims that weren’t paid, the main reason for non-payment was non-disclosure of medical information on applications.

While for income protection, a greater proportion of customers do not reach payment stage because they often return to work before the policy’s payment period starts, with many benefitting from rehabilitation available through their policy.