Employees benefit as group risk industry pays record amount of claims in 2021
Margarita M. Phillips
4 min read
- The UK group risk industry paid out £2.22bn in claims in 2021, the equivalent of £6.1m a day
- 6,113 people helped after a period of sick leave
- 220,886 interactions with additional help and support services financed by Group risk insurers
- Cancer: leading cause of claims for all group risk products
Industry data compiled and released today by Group Risk Development (GRiD) shows that employers have once again used Group Risk Protection to provide financial support to large numbers of employees and their families in 2021. A total of £2.22 billion was paid out by the group risk industry in 2021, an increase of £208.4 million on 2020 figures.
Group risk insurers have helped people in many practical ways as well as financial payments. A total of 6,113 employees were helped to return to work after a period of work stoppage and there were 220,886 interactions during the year 2021 with additional help and support services funded by the group risk insurers.
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD said: “Statistics categorically show that group benefits (employer-sponsored life insurance, income protection, and critical illness) are truly among the most valuable benefits employers can provide: financially, practically, and emotionally.”
Total benefits paid
Group life policies paid out total benefits worth £1.57bn (an increase of £198.47m on 2020 figures); group income protection policies paid out a total of £546.1m (a decrease of £4.72m from 2020); group critical illness policies paid out benefits totaling £106.3m (an increase of £14.7m on 2020 figures).
The average new claim amounts (£116,414 for Group Life; £28,977 per year for Group Income Protection; £73,089 for Group Critical Illness) show that these benefits should not be viewed solely as benefits for the highest earners, as they are a lifeblood. financial lifeline for all people, regardless of salary, age or position.
| Advantage | Number of complaints | Value of claims paid | Average amount of new requests | % of new claims paid for 2021 |
| Group life insurance | 13,479 | £1,569,149,331 | £116,414 | 99.82% |
| Group income protection | 15,9981 | £546,134,4191 | £28,9772 | 75.69%3 |
| Serious group illness | 1,455 | £106,344,648 | £73,089 | 79.55%4 |
| Totals | 30,932 | £2,221,628,398 |
Back to work
For group income protection, as well as paid claims, there are a significant number of cases each year where employees are helped to return to work before and after a claim becomes due, often with the support of the insurer, employer or both.
GRiD captured details of cases where the insurer supported a return to work with active early intervention (such as expedited access to counseling or physiotherapy, funded by the insurer) before the employee was eligible for a monetary payment. 4,395 people (45.3% of all claims filed, up 13.5% from 2020) were able to return to work in 2021 as a result of this early intervention (of which 54% received support to overcome mental illness and 10% received support to overcome a musculoskeletal condition).
GRiD has again captured case details to demonstrate that once a claim is in payment, return to work assistance and support is still provided and employees are not forgotten. Of the new group income protection claims that went into payout in 2020, 1,718 people were helped by the insurer to make a full return to work by the end of 2021.
Moxham continued: “The figures show the extent of the overall support offered via collective insurance: in the event of death, serious illness, prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation. It is no wonder that a growing number of employers are offering them to their workforce, and not just among large companies, but also SMEs and micro-SMEs.
Help and support
In addition to settling claims and helping employees return to work, group risk insurers provide access to day-to-day services to help and support an employee on a daily basis. This is done in several ways, including:
- An associated employee assistance program
- Facilitate a second medical opinion
- Expedited access to counselling, physiotherapy or other treatment
- Liaison and mediation
- Bereavement support and probate assistance
- Access to healthcare apps and virtual GPs
In total, there were 220,886 interactions in 2021 with the additional help and support services funded by group risk insurers, giving daily value to employers whether or not a claim was made under their font. Of these interactions, 39% involved access to advice and 11% were related to illness and 4% to legal issues.
Main causes of loss
Cancer was the leading cause of claims in all three group risk products in 2021.
| Advantage | Main cause of new claims | % | Second leading cause of new claims | % |
| Group life insurance | Cancer | 33% | heart disease | 16% |
| Group income protection | Cancer | 27% | Mental illness | 18% |
| Serious group illness | Cancer | 67% | Heart attack | 9% |
COVID-19[feminine]
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of claims in group life insurance (11.7%). GRiD reported earlier this year on COVID-related claims: the average lump sum death benefit payment for COVID-19 claims was £100,387
For Group Income Protection, COVID-related claims were the fifth most common reason for claims. There were 372 new claims in 2021, of which 66 had returned to work by the end of the year. This shows an upward trend, as there were 41 COVID-19 claims in 2020.
Moxham concluded: “COVID is not going away, so the support available through group benefits will be good news for many employers who are continually looking for ways to offer support as we learn to live with the virus.”
