More than £1.68 billion was paid out by the group risk industry over 2018, demonstrating a £64.5 million increase on 2017, according to research by industry body Group Risk Development (Grid).

The research, based on claims data from Grid’s provider members, also found that 26,505 claims were made in 2018 for group life assurance, group income protection and group critical illness.

Group life policies paid £1,117.2 million for 10,027 claims in 2018, which is an increase of £50.2 million since 2017. The average new claim amount for these types of policies is £114,691. In terms of group income protection policies, 15,244 new and existing claims paid out a total of £482.7 million for the year, as at 31 December 2018; this is an increase of £16.2 million per annum compared with 2017. The average new claim amount for group income protection is £26,322 a year.

In 2018, £82.4 million was paid out for 1,234 group critical illness claims, which is a decrease of £1.9 million from 2017. The average new claim amount in 2018 was £66,824.

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