Aviva 'spent £118m on critical illness claims in 2009'

Aviva paid out over 90 per cent of all life insurance claims in 2009, it has reported today.

Aviva has announced today (April 22nd) that it paid out around £118 million to customers with critical illness claims throughout 2009.

Some 1,499 reward claims were made during the year, with an average payout of £79,000 each being awarded by the insurer - an increase of £4,000 on 2008's average figure.

A further £151 million has been received from the firm by people whose family members died or were diagnosed with a terminal illness over the course of the year. Since 2006, Aviva has now paid out more than £1 billion in critical illness and life policy insurance claims.

More than nine-tenths (91 per cent) of all claims were paid out by Aviva in 2009, with cancer remaining the most common cause of claims (67 per cent of all cases were due to the illness).

Life and critical illness insurance cover plans are available to anyone with a UK account but Richard Verdin, director of protection at Aviva, says that nearly half of all Brits are not protected.

"47 per cent of Britons don’t have critical illness or life policies and even more worryingly 75 per cent of single parents have no protection," said Mr Verdin.