"These positive outcomes further support our recommendation that clients consider insurers who offer them additional support beyond just IP."
- Ben Mason, Protection Manager at LightBlue Online
Last year, British Friendly reported a 72% increase in the use of its healthcare services (provided by Square Health) after an email campaign prompted 199 virtual mental health, physiotherapy, and GP appointments.
Similarly, demand for an annual health check, which enables members to carry out a self-administered blood test to identify twenty of the most common health markers such as cholesterol and diabetes, rose by 138%.
Natalie Summerson, Sales & Marketing Director at British Friendly, said this increase in demand shows that “when we remind our members of the additional services we offer, the engagement rates increase significantly […] this clearly demonstrates the importance of providers and distributors in communicating these services in a target, focused way on a regular basis.”
Overall, British Friendly paid out £5mn in Income Protection (IP), discretionary BF Care, and fracture cover claims. This equates to 89% of claims issued by the provider in 2023.
Of these claims, 54.95% related to musculoskeletal conditions, followed by chest/lung/nose/throat (7.91%), and surgery that isn’t covered in other categories (7.21%). Notably, British Friendly paid out the same amount of cancer and mental health-related claims (5.41%).
In 2023, the most common reasons for a declined claim were misrepresentation (49.18%), definition of incapacity not being met (26.23%), and pre-existing conditions for the simplified product under the moratorium period (17.21%).
“We’re very proud of the amount of support we provide to our members through paying claims, focusing on rehabilitation and recovery as well as offering a range of additional benefits through our BF Care and Mutual Benefits programmes,” explained Maxine Jannetta, Head of Claims at British Friendly.
Highlighting the introduction of fracture cover last year, Maxine said that it’s “positive to see we’re already able to provide support for some of the members who added this benefit within a year of its launch.”
