"The findings demonstrate how important critical illness cover can be in preventing a health crisis from becoming a much wider financial crisis."
- Mark Townsend - Reassured
According to new research carried out by Reassured with its critical illness (CI) claimants, 83% said their payout helped them through a difficult time with their health, while 47% used the money to support their day-to-day living costs.
Almost three-quarters reported that they would have been significantly worse off without the money from their claim, while 49% said their CI payout gave them financial security during a time when they were worrying about their health.
34% said the payout made their lives easier, while just 3% said it made little or no difference.
Just under a quarter of claimants said they used the money to pay off debts and 21% for medical or care-related costs. Other uses included supporting family or dependents, paying off their mortgage or taking a trip of a lifetime.
According to figures from Reassured’s core insurer panel, £73,140,084 was paid out in life and critical illness claims across 3,474 claims by the broker in 2025.
These figures mean payouts have increased by almost 49% over the last two years, with the number of successful claims more than tripling since 2023.
Reassured says the latest figures continue a trend of rising claims payouts through its insurer panel, following a 34% increase in 2024.
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"Every claim paid represents a person or family going through an incredibly difficult period in their lives," Mark Townsend, CEO at Reassured, said.
"While the numbers demonstrate the scale of support protection policies can provide, behind every payout is a real story. Our research goes deeper to understand these stories better and what this money really means to claimants and their families.
"Nearly half of the critical illness claimants we surveyed used their payout simply to meet everyday living costs. That demonstrates how quickly serious illness can become a financial as well as a health crisis.
"The findings demonstrate how important critical illness cover can be in preventing a health crisis from becoming a much wider financial crisis. For insurers and brokers, the challenge is to make that value tangible before somebody becomes ill, not afterwards."
