Minority of complaints relate to risk advice

In its 2015-16 annual review, around 5 per cent – or 1,095 – of the 20,298 disputes accepted by FOS related to life insurance.

Almost half of those life insurance disputes related to income protection insurance.

Of the life insurance disputes accepted by FOS during 2015-16, 603 of them (55 per cent) related to income stream risk, while 462 (42 per cent) related to non-income stream risk.

The remaining thirty life insurance disputes (3 per cent) were yet to be determined as being either income stream or non-income stream risk.

The most common reason consumers came to FOS with life insurance disputes over the last financial year was denial of claim, accounting for 26 per cent of those disputes.

Denial of claim was more common in income stream risk disputes (29 per cent) than non-income stream risk disputes (24 per cent).

Credit accounted for 10,438 disputes (47 per cent) accepted by FOS in 2015-16 (47 per cent), while general insurance accounted for 6,858 disputes (31 per cent).

Forty-seven per cent – or 10,438 – of all FOS disputes accepted in 2015-16 related to credit, while 31 per cent – 6,858 in total – related to general insurance.