Life Insurance Payments to be Sped Up

Under new guidelines published earlier this week, those are bereaved will be able to access life insurance payments much sooner than previously. The announcement by the Association of British insurers means that firms will have to make payments within 4 weeks, rather than 4 months.

The new system will involve making payments prior to the completion of the full legal process. If it is then decided that they are not the rightful recipient of the insurance payout then they will have to repay the money. The changes are designed to relieve some of the financial stress from bereavement, as around 32,000 families have to make life insurance claims every year. 

The ABI’s Director General, Otto Thoresen, commented on the changes, saying: “Dealing with bereavement is hard enough, without the added stress of worrying about money.  This new life insurance claims process means the time it takes on average to receive a payout will drop from four months to just four weeks. We believe that this will go some way to alleviating financial hardship for a deceased person’s dependents, especially families on lower incomes who have few other assets available to rely on.”