Quick answer · Updated August 2026
This month in UK protection: SunLife's £130 gift card offer ends 18 August; ABI data confirms a record year — £8 billion total protection payouts, 97.9% of individual claims accepted, average claim up 10% to £18,700; cheapest mainstream term cover holds at £4.50/month (L&G); and statutory sick pay remains £118.75/week — the number that makes income protection the quiet product of the year.
This Month's Numbers (verified August 2026)
| Item | Position this month |
|---|---|
| SunLife £130 gift card | Offer ends 18 August 2026 — largest current sign-up incentive |
| Cheapest mainstream term entry | £4.50/month (Legal & General); £4 online (Beagle Street) |
| Cheapest guaranteed over-50s entry | £4/month (SunLife, ages 49–85, £18k cap) |
| ABI 2024 claims (latest published) | £5.32bn individual / £8bn total; 97.9% accepted; avg £18,700 (+10%) |
| Statutory Sick Pay | £118.75/week, up to 28 weeks |
| UK average funeral cost | £4,141 (SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2025) |
Each figure verified against the primary source this month.
What Changed / What to Watch
- Over-50s gift war: SunLife's £130 card is the biggest gift we've tracked; expect rivals to respond after the 18 August deadline — our offers tracker follows it.
- Claims-data season: insurer-by-insurer 2025 claim-paid reports begin publishing over the coming months; our payout league table updates as each lands.
- The IP gap keeps widening: SSP at £118.75/week against average full-time pay leaves the sickness gap the market's biggest underinsurance story — background in our salary protection explainer.
This is the first monthly edition. Each update re-verifies every number against primary sources — figures here supersede older dated copy elsewhere on the site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Monthly — each edition re-verifies premiums, offers and claims statistics against primary sources, and flags anything that changed since the last edition.
SunLife's £130 gift card offer on its over-50s plan ends 18 August 2026 — the largest sign-up incentive currently in the UK market.
Primary sources only: ABI claims publications, insurers' own plan documents and published rate examples, and the SunLife Cost of Dying Report for funeral costs. Sources are named against each figure.