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UK: Aviva pays £2.2 million to critical illness customers who didn’t know they could claim


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- Customer received £325,000 after claim was identified
- Malignant Melanoma accounts for almost half of cases

Over the last five years Aviva has paid out more than £2.2 million in critical illness payments to customers who didn’t realise they could claim under their policies.

The claims were identified when the customers contacted the insurer to make changes to existing policies (for example when moving house) or to apply for a new insurance plan.

Since the start of 2009, 21 claims were found on policies which were live when the customer was diagnosed with a critical illness which met the policy criteria. One case meant that the customer received £325,000 as a result of their claim.

Aviva has released the information to encourage people to check what cover they have in place, to make sure they don’t miss out on valuable benefits.

Almost half of the cases identified - nine out of 21 - were for Malignant Melanoma, a condition which has attracted attention in recent weeks, after scientists reported that they may have found a cure for more advanced cases.

Robert Morrison, chief underwriter for Aviva says: “Providers and advisers make every effort to ensure customers understand their cover, but over time people may forget exactly what they have in place. It’s upsetting to think there are cases where people could benefit from their policies but don’t know that they can claim.

“The good news is that in these instances we were able to see that the customers had valid claims, so we could process them retrospectively. We’d urge anyone who has a protection policy to take a few moments to check what it covers – just so they can be sure they won’t miss out if the unexpected happens.”



Notes to editors:

Aviva provides insurance, savings and investment products to 34 million customers worldwide.

We are the UK’s largest insurer with over 14 million customers and one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance. We combine strong life insurance, general insurance and asset management businesses under one powerful brand. We are committed to serving our customers well in order to build a stronger, sustainable business, which makes a positive contribution to society, and for which our people are proud to work.

We are ranked as one of the UK’s top ten most valuable brands and Aviva Plc is in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In 2012 we invested £5.7m into our UK communities. One in three of our employees were involved in community investment activities which included giving nearly 30,000 hours.

Aviva is working in partnership with Railway Children through the Aviva Street to School programme to get children living or working on UK streets back into everyday life, especially education. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-school.

The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes company information and a news release archive.

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