Back injuries cause most long-term work absences, says Aviva

Back injuries cause most long-term work absences, according to insurer Aviva, which paid €93 million in death benefit and income protection last year.

Aviva said at the weekend that it paid €92.9 million to almost 2,600 people who claimed against life and income protection policies in 2018.

The insurer paid €42 million in income protection, where people claim against policies meant to protect their pay, where illness or injury forces them to stay out of work for long periods.

Aviva said that back injuries accounted for almost one third of the claims and a total payout of €13 million in this category last year.

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The insurer noted that back injuries were “now a major cause of long-term work absences”.

Cancer

Psychological claims were the next most common at 22 per cent, followed closely by cancer at 21 per cent.

About half the insurer’s income protection claimants were under 50, while they split more or less half-and-half between women and men.

Aviva paid 837 death benefit claims amounting to €38.2 million last year. The company said that cancer was the leading cause of death among those who took out its policies, with heart disease the second most common.

Cancer was also the most frequent cause of specified illness claims, particularly among women, where it was behind four out of every five cases.

Heart disease was the second most likely reason for people to claim for this category of cover.

Aviva's Karen Gallagher said that the company regularly sees the "traumatic impact" that unforeseen illness has on families.