Phil Deacon , Head of Claims , Guardian

The treatment of people when they ’ re making a protection claim is getting an almost unprecedented amount of attention from the regulator . Consumer Duty and the related focus on vulnerable consumers clearly underpins a lot of the FCA ’ s thinking on these matters . In practical terms , and as we can see from the recent terminal illness market study , this means the regulator is concerned about the time being taken to pay claims and the treatment of customers during the claims process .

Indeed , protection advisers are likely to welcome this focus on claims experience . There is very little in what the regulator is demanding that they would disagree with in terms of how they expect clients to be treated by insurers . And while we ’ re definitely not complacent at Guardian , we believe many of the concerns raised speak to our strengths in terms of our approach and proposition .

Our claims report This year marks a significant milestone for us for claims , as we ’ ve just published our first annual claims report sharing claims statistics on open product lines that have completed or are nearing completion of five full years of trading . That means for life protection , and critical illness protection and combined life and critical illness protection . Our income protection has some way to go before the statistics become meaningful , having launched last year , as has our life essentials product which launched earlier this year .

The report shows that Guardian paid over £ 15 million in claims in 2023 to 150 families – consisting of over £ 7.5 million in life and terminal illness claims , and over £ 7.5 million in critical illness and children ’ s critical illness claims . We ’ re also delighted to be able to share that Guardian has paid 100 % of all its life and terminal illness claims , which we believe is linked to our approach with Life Protection .

Our enhanced terminal illness definition can contribute to a better outcome at claim for those who are terminally ill , most notably with incurable stage 4 cancer and motor neurone disease , although Parkinson-plus syndromes and Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease are also covered . For policyholders who have our Life Protection , it means for these four conditions we don ’ t need to wait until their doctor can prove they have less than 12 months to live .

Guardian has also paid 92 % of all its critical illness claims and 92 % of its children ’ s critical illness claims .

Beyond the numbers

If those are some of the raw numbers , we ’ re also proud of other aspects of our claims record , including the time we take to assess and pay a claim . We ’ re a signatory again in 2024 to the Protection Distributors Group Claims Charter , meeting the minimum standards required in terms of timescales . This year that ’ s of particular note , as the charter introduced criteria for the timeliness of assessment of claims forms and assessment of medical evidence once received , which has increased the bar to meet those requirements .

Separately , we believe that our beneficiary nomination offer , Payout Planner , has also expedited the claims process , avoiding some of the snarl-ups that can occur with the probate process . Indeed , 68 % of our policies now have this in place and the feature was used within 74 % of our life claims in 2023 .

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