"At the heart of sharing claims data across our industry is one thing: trust. Trust that when it matters, we’ll be there – doing what we said we would for the people who rely on us."
- Carlton Hood, newly appointed CEO of Guardian
In 2024, Guardian Financial Services (Guardian) paid 238 claims across its Life Insurance, Terminal Illness, and Critical Illness (CI) products – this equates to £21,344,290 in claims, which is 40% higher than what was paid in 2023.
“At the heart of sharing claims data across our industry is one thing: trust. Trust that when it matters, we’ll be there – doing what we said we would for the people who rely on us,” stressed Carlton Hood, newly appointed CEO of Guardian (pictured).
READ MORE: Guardian appoints Carlton Hood as CEO
Guardian hasn’t published claims data for its recently launched Income Protection (IP) and ‘Life Essentials’ products, but will disclose figures after five years in the market.
100% (50) of Life Insurance claims were paid, with an average payout of £134,394 - overall, Guardian paid £6,719,696. Of those, 56% of claims were paid using beneficiary nomination via Payout Planner, allowing claimants to bypass probate; 70% of life policies that went in force during 2024 used Payout Planner.
Last year, Swiss Re’s ‘Life claims: a balance of risk’ report revealed that only 18% of life policies are written in trust across the industry, leaving the majority of policyholders at risk of probate delays.
The most common cause of claims (besides natural causes) was cancer (24%), followed by accidents (8%), and suicide (8%). Notably, 72% of life claims were for men compared to just 28% for women; the average age of claimants was 52 years old.
Guardian’s ‘Life Protection’ product has an enhanced terminal illness definition, paying out for a definite diagnosis of incurable stage 4 cancer, motor neurone disease, Parkinson-plus syndromes, and creutzfeldt-jakob disease regardless of the policyholder’s life expectancy.
56% of Terminal Illness claims paid by Guardian in 2024 wouldn’t have been paid at the time of initial claim under the industry standard ‘twelve months to live’ definition.
Guardian paid 94% (32) of Terminal Illness claims to policyholders with incurable stage 4 cancer diagnoses. Two claims were rejected due to misrepresentation. One customer failed to disclose tests and investigations (including an MRI and flexible sigmoidoscopy) before the policy started, and another failed to disclose a long history of stomach complications.
Of the CI claims made, 81% were for cancer (74), heart attack (18), stroke (9), or multiple sclerosis (2). Overall, Guardian paid 92% (129) of CI claims, equating to £9,065,309. Of which, 90% were full payouts, 8.5% for additional payouts, and 1.5% for surgery cover – 3 claims were made for a reduced payment due to misrepresentation of medical history in the application.
Guardian paid 27 Children’s CI claims, equating to £643,270. Guardian allows children’s cover to be added to any adult policy rather than solely an adult CI plan. Notably, 56% of Children’s CI claims were attached to an adult life policy, and 7% were attached to IP.
37% of claims were for a funeral payout, followed by a recent cancer diagnosis (18%), intensive care benefit (15%), and type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (11%).
Premium Waiver is included as standard on all Guardian policies – this was designed as a safety net for customers to avoid them cancelling their policies if times got tough. In 2024, Guardian paid 283 Premium Waiver claims, which is more than twice (117) as many claims compared to the year prior.
Speaking with Protection Reporter, Rachael Welsh, head of marketing & PR at Guardian, highlighted that its Premium Waiver covers maternity and paternity leave, which was the rationale behind 70% (199) of claims in 2024.
She said: “We’ve been doing lots to highlight to policyholders that they have it, including the introduction of anniversary emails in March 2024. We also made a point of highlighting Premium Waiver in our claims report last year, so advisers may be more aware.
“The growth in these types of claims is likely to be, in part, due to increased awareness of the maternity/paternity aspect of the benefit, as well as the growing size of our book, and that it’s a maturing book,” Rachael added.
