Of course, the money will not bring your health back, but the lump sum will definitely make your life easier.


More and more people suffer from serious conditions such as cancer or heart diseases. However, thanks to the development of medicine and regular tests, these diseases are often diagnosed at an early stage. In the past, people used to die from cancer or heart diseases. Today, they are treated. However, those who recover from their condition are often unable to work again and the recovery can be challenging and expensive.

Critical Illness

Designed to pay the sum insured on a diagnosis of a specified serious ilnness covered in the policy. With this sum, the insured can be treated at private health care facilities or simply live without worrying about their bills.


Critical Illness insurance policies are designed to cover a specified list of serious illness – typically, only some forms of cancer, heart attack and stroke are covered. You should check your policy for full details of which illnesses are covered.

Here are some payment statistics based on 2021 data from AVIVA*

Critical Illness claims summary
  • 59,20% of Critical Illness claims were cancer related!
The top four overall claims paid for
1. Cancer
2. Heart attack
3. Stroke 9,4%
4. Children’s benefit
In 2021, £4.7 million was paid in child cover claims ** (children up to age 21). The average value of children's benefit paid was £19,333
The most common reasons for critical illness claims including total permanent disability:
Male:
  • Cancer 47,7%
  • Heart attack 19%
  • Stroke 9,4%
  • Heart valve replacement or repair 2,1%
  • Multiple Sclerosis 2%
  • Total permanent disability 2%
  • Parkinson's 1,9%
  • Coronary artery bypass surgery1,8%
  • Benign brain tumour 1,5%
  • Motor Neurone Disease 0,8%
  • All other 11,8%
Female:
  • Cancer 71%
  • Stroke 5,3%
  • Multiple Sclerosis 4,9%
  • Total permanent disability 3,7%
  • Heart Attack 2,9%
  • Benign brain tumour 2,4%
  • In situ breast cancer 1,1%
  • Parkinson's 0,8%
  • Heart valve replacement or repair 0,4%
  • Intensive care benefit 0,3%
  • All other 7,2%


Most common cancer claims by gender
Male:
  • Prostate 23,6%
  • Gastrointestinal 17,5%
  • Haematological 15,4%
  • Skin 7%
  • Kidney 5,8 %
  • Other 30,7%
Female:
  • Breast 57,9%
  • Gastrointestinal 10,6%
  • Gynaecological 8,2%
  • Haematological 5,7%
  • Skin 4,3%
  • Other 13,5%

The average payout from critical illness claims including total permanent disability and children's benefit was £70.917

Income Protection

It can take time to recover from an illness or serious injury. If incapacity for work results in the loss of income (not all employers offer company sick pay), it could have a negative impact on the financial situation of you and your family. Imagine the situation when your salary no longer covers the family financial needs but your spending unfortunately remain at the same level. Income protection is designed to protect you income in case of incapacity for work. It guarantees you a tax free monthly income. Examples of Income Protection claims Statistics based on 2021 data from AVIVA*.

  • 37% of Income Protection payments in 2021 were made due to Musculoskeletal conditions
The top three reasons for Income Protection policy payments**: 1. Musculoskeletal conditions 37% 2. Mental health conditions 21,3% 3. Cancer 11%
    • Average age when first claimed - 44 years old
    • Average length of an income protection claim is: 7 yrs 5 m
    • Income protection claims paid: 4,300
    • Amount paid out: £51.2m
    • Percentage paid all income protection claims: 85.4%
    • *source for claims statistics

https://www.aviva.co.uk/documents/view/pt151062c.pdf

    ** These percentages are based only on new claims (approved and rejected) in 2021