Legal & General protection

Matt Loadwick
May 2025 • 2 min read

Legal & General protection

Legal & General (L&G) has revealed that it paid out over £1 billion in protection claims in 2024, covering life insurance, income protection, and critical illness policies. This figure breaks down to an average of £2.5m paid out in claims every day.

According to the provider, more than 20,000 customers received claim payments – the highest number in a single year for L&G. On average, each customer received around £50,000, offering crucial financial support during challenging times such as bereavement, serious illness or a sudden loss of income.

The total amount paid was over £100m more than in 2023, marking the third year in a row that both the number and value of claims have increased. L&G partly credits this rise to enhancements in its digital claims process. In particular, the use of its ‘My Account’ self-service portal has streamlined submissions and cut the need for follow-up medical evidence by more than 25%.

Historically, the perceptions of the insurance industry have sometimes been mixed, with stories of difficult claims processes or perceived unfair practices with insurers exploiting loopholes to delay or deny payments to policyholders. As such, it’s good to see a major provider that’s increasing its payouts in consecutive years (both in volume and value), hopefully thus increasing levels of trust for retail customers.

As part of our holistic approach to looking after our clients’ financial wellbeing; ensuring that our clients have sufficient financial protection is important to us. Whether it’s to provide your family with adequate income and the ability to clear loans in the event that you were to die suddenly, to provide a monthly income if you become ill over the long term and are unable to work or to provide a lump sum upon diagnosis of a serious illness; these policies provide funds that can be used for treatment or simply to reduce/remove financial pressure).

Whilst we do not directly arrange these financial protection policies these days, it is important for us to ensure that you are adequately covered, so please get in touch if you wish to discuss your protection arrangements.

BACK TO ALL BLOGS

A Monster Calls

Solomons-financial-advisor-wimbledon-blogger

A Monster Calls

Perhaps it is just me, but I seem to be a little (more than usually) morbid at the start of the year. On Saturday I went to see the movie “A Monster Calls”. This seemed to coincide with my reaction to the lengthy list of people that died in 2016 and the natural sense of turning a new leaf with the start of a new year… a time to get a little more organised, better prepared for what may lie ahead.

The movie relates the tale of a young boy who lives with his mother and it becomes apparent that she has cancer. The movie itself is visually beautiful, fusing art, film and masterful story-telling. It captures the painful struggle of a young boy called Conor who, like many children is living with the hope of recovery and the reality of uncertainty. He escapes into the invisible world of monsters which merely highlights the tension of his real world where he is largely invisible, with nobody noticing his struggle other than those most alert to vulnerability – the bully.

Complexity lurking in the shadows

There are some delightful lines and insights and it is a film that has continued to gnaw at the corners of my mind. Whilst in many respects this might be promoted as a children’s story, it has far more to offer adults and those caring for or working with children with insights and reminders about just how vital our communication with children really is. Indeed, the tales within the story remind us that we are all rather more complex that “good” or “bad” perhaps this awakening normally comes in childhood, but certainly is a timely reminder as we survey a complex world with some notable players, who invariably appear monstrous.

The monsters we don’t call for

We all have monsters that we fear may come calling, one of the more obvious ones is the monster called Cancer. You may have seen some poignant TV adverts entitled “Cancer is happening right now” and of course for those of you that have experienced such visits or are currently doing so, there is a very real sense of an alternative universe, drawing family and friends into an epic, often weary struggle for survival and many will relate to the fourth tale offered up to the monster.

The limitations of financial comfort

Of course, in the financial planning world there are policies designed to provide financial assistance. Nobody is under any illusion that these will cure, heal or even soothe the pain of a serious or critical illness. They “merely” enable focus to be kept on relationships, care and hopefully successful treatment, rather than anxiety about cost, albeit purely the financial one. This is not a pleasant subject. It is the nightmare that I hope you never must endure, but the sad reality is that we cannot control our nightmares, we can respond to them and make allowances, whilst attempting to understand and have greater empathy for those that have, are and will.

I can thoroughly recommend the movie, but it comes with a warning, not a child-like story, but there are many children like this (and many grown-ups that feel the same way). Here is the trailer.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk