£7.84 Billion Reasons to Talk About Protection
Every day in 2025, protection insurers paid out £21.5 million to families across the UK. Money that arrived at exactly the moment it was needed most: after a bereavement, a cancer diagnosis, or an injury that stopped someone earning.
Across the year, that added up to £7.84 billion [1]. If you've ever wondered whether protection insurance is "worth it," this is the number that answers the question. If you don't already have cover in place, or haven't reviewed it in a while, get in touch. It's a conversation worth having before you need it, not after.
The Numbers Behind the Headline:
- New data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Group Risk Development (GRiD) shows individual protection claims alone totalled £5.15 billion in 2025.
- Insurers paid out an extraordinary 97.9% of all individual claims, a figure that has held above that level for more than a decade.
- Critical illness claims topped £1 billion for the fifth year running, with the average payout reaching £67,000, nearly two-thirds of those claims were for cancer.
- Income protection claims hit a record £209 million, and crucially, 7,600 people were able to return to work last year.
- Perhaps most telling of all: nearly one in five income protection claims were for mental health conditions, a reminder that protection isn't only about physical illness [1].
Why This Matters to You:
It's easy to think of protection insurance as something you pay into and hope never to use. But behind every one of those figures is a family whose mortgage got paid, whose income kept coming in, or who didn't have to worry about money while dealing with something far more important.
Let's Talk: Whether you've got existing cover that needs a health check, or you've never looked at protection insurance before, now is a good time to start. Reach out today, and we'll walk through your options together, no pressure, no jargon, just clarity on what's right for you and your family.
SPEAK TO AN ADVISER
Source:
1. Association of British Insurers (ABI), “Protection insurers pay out £7.84 billion to help customers safeguard their finances” (2026):
https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2026/6/protection-insurers-pay-out-7.84-billion-in-2025/
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