Canada Life started to accept electronic employer claims forms for its group income protection and group critical illness contracts from 1 April.
Previously, employers had to complete the claims forms manually and send it via post. The new electronic system will save employers time and administrative effort, as well as getting the claims process started up to six days sooner.
The legislative requirement for signatures on areas such as medical consent and data protection means that employee claims forms will still need to be completed in hard copy.
Mike Newcombe, director of claims management services at Canada Life, said: “We aim to make the claims process as simple and easy as possible for both employers and employees.
“In 2012, we saw our response times on the receipt of a claim form improve and we are now looking to see if there is anything else we can do to reduce the amount of time it takes to pay a claim.
“We believe that we are already doing all we can to improve the efficiency of our administration process, and even saving just a few days in the post will benefit everyone involved.”
Paul Avis, marketing director at Canada Life, added: “Having had confirmation from our legal team of the ability to accept a soft copy claim form without a hard copy signature, it seemed simple to us to offer an electronic claim form.”
