Metlife’s payouts for accident and health claims rose to a new high of £8.6m in 2018 across 11,400 claims.
Almost half of the payouts were claims for broken bones, while 21 per cent covered hospital stays for children, according to the provider.
But Metlife stated it had detected reluctance from adviser clients to purchase individual protection in a recent survey.
More than half of the 200 advisers the provider surveyed said their clients’ weren’t keen on purchasing the protection because of concerns about claims records.
In addition, 56 per cent said the current product range was not relevant to their everyday lives.
Richard Horner, head of individual protection at MetLife UK, said customers only really valued individual protection when they needed to make a claim.
Therefore, he said, it was "crucial that claims are handled efficiently and with sympathy".
Yet, according to the latest available data from the Association for British Insurers, protection insurers paid out nearly £14m every day in 2017 through products such as income protection, critical illness or life insurance.
In individual protection, the total value of claims paid for critical illness passed £1bn for the first time ever, with the average claim increasing to £73,000.
A spokesperson for the ABI said: "These findings do further highlight the importance of raising awareness in the value of income protection products in the event of a sudden loss of income.
"Greater awareness of the potentially financially disastrous impact of a serious illness and injury is needed to help improve take up of protection products."
In February, the ABI launched an online calculator, which works out consumers’ likely financial entitlements if they are unable to work due to illness or injury, in order to raise consumer awareness.
‘Percy The Protection Calculator’, which is still in development, is a calculator aimed at consumers that is designed to give quick access to an accurate estimation of likely monthly income in case of injury or illness.
This is done by tapping into the government’s benefit data and combining it with information provided by the calculator’s user.
