Group Life Assurance Payment Delays & Interest

AP3

Hello All,

I'm currently waiting to receive a payment from my late wife's employer's group life assurance scheme. It has been approved, and I'm just waiting to receive the money in my account.

However, my wife passed away in February, and only now have they (the insurer) finished their "investigations" and agreed to pay.

She had "flexed" her benefit from the default 3x salary to 8x salary. I believe a lot of the "investigations" were to see if they could get out of paying out the extra. (was she actively at work when she flexed the benefit etc.)

Anyway, the claim is valid, and I will be receiving the full 8x salary.

My question is, should I be looking to ask them for lost interest/compensation for the nearly 7 month delay caused by their "investigations"?

I did complain, but they said that it was "reasonable" for them to investigation the claim, which I don't dispute, however the sheer length of time that it's taken doesn't strike me as reasonable.

The GP did cause nearly 2 months of the delay, as a medical report was requested by the insurer.

Any opinions as to whether I should take it to the ombudsman? The sun involved is large, hence the potential missing interest opportunity is also quite a bit.

From my point of the the claim was valid 7 months ago, it just took them 7 months to figure that out, so I should be put into the position I would have been if they had paid out straight away.

All thoughts welcome!

Cheers,
Andy

MyRealNameToo

AP3 said:

I'm currently waiting to receive a payment from my late wife's employer's group life assurance scheme. It has been approved, and I'm just waiting to receive the money in my account.

However, my wife passed away in February, and only now have they (the insurer) finished their "investigations" and agreed to pay.

She had "flexed" her benefit from the default 3x salary to 8x salary. I believe a lot of the "investigations" were to see if they could get out of paying out the extra. (was she actively at work when she flexed the benefit etc.)

Anyway, the claim is valid, and I will be receiving the full 8x salary.

My question is, should I be looking to ask them for lost interest/compensation for the nearly 7 month delay caused by their "investigations"?

I did complain, but they said that it was "reasonable" for them to investigation the claim, which I don't dispute, however the sheer length of time that it's taken doesn't strike me as reasonable.

The GP did cause nearly 2 months of the delay, as a medical report was requested by the insurer.

Any opinions as to whether I should take it to the ombudsman? The sun involved is large, hence the potential missing interest opportunity is also quite a bit.

From my point of the the claim was valid 7 months ago, it just took them 7 months to figure that out, so I should be put into the position I would have been if they had paid out straight away.

All thoughts welcome!

Was it just a single trip to the doctors? Its not uncommon for an insurer to have questions given the half arsed reports most GPs send and if they took 2 months to write the original report they probably took similar on the followup questions... you can be sure they were quick to bill for both the original report and the followup though!

Depending on the exact setup the pension trustees can also be involved in the process and can also be a source of significant delay. They may have the last say on who receives the monies and whist an expression of wishes form often makes it quicker it isnt necessarily blindly followed (a former colleague forgot to change theirs after divorcing and had been living with his partner and had his only kids with her at the point of his death). Many its not their day job so fitted around other stuff.

An insurer can't be blamed if others are slow in responding to them. They have a duty to ensure the right money is paid to the right people and can't just skip steps because third parties are being slow in responding. 

AP3

The medical report was requested post mortem. There was no medical required for either the "basic" group life assurance, and no medical information was required to "flex" the benefit to maximum.

The trustees approved everything within weeks. The delay seems to be solely around the insurer trying to find a way to get out of paying the "flexed" extra benefit.

I should also add that there was no interim payment of the core benefit of 3x salary, which would have been due regardless of whether or the the "flexing" was valid.