Friends Provident has reported the proportion of their critical illness claims not paid out as a result of non-disclosure reduced by a third to 6.5% during 2007. 

The amount of claims declined for non-disclosure during 2006 was 9.9% and the 2007 figures are the first since the insurer brought in the policy of paying a proportion of the claim when unrelated non-disclosure occurs.

A proportion of claims that were declined for non-disclosure last year was lower than the proportion declined for claimants that did not meet the policy conditions, which was 7%, down from 8.8% in 2006.

The claims that did pay out increased to 86.5% last year, up from 81.3% in 2006. In 2007 Friends Provident out a total of £35.7m for critical illness claims. Its figures also show that cancer is the most common cause for a claim and average age of a claimant is 44.

The average critical illness payout last year was more than £58,500 and the largest claim was £750,000.

Head of protection at Friends Provident, Mark Jones, said: ‘I am delighted that the three-pronged approach we have applied to our range of protection products of education, simplification and promoting a culture of fairness, is beginning to pay dividends. The improvement in the number of claims paid will help increase consumer confidence in protection products.’