But claims ratio improved after £3.4m growth in gross written premium, according to new ABI statistics

UK general insurers paid out £32.1bn in claims in 2013, up 1.5bn on the £30.6bn they paid the previous year, according to new statistics from the ABI.

But the industry’s claims ratio improved as gross written premiums (GWP) grew at a faster rate than claims.

The ABI figure show that the UK general insurance industry brought in £50.2bn of GWP in 2013, a £3.4bn increase on the £46.8bn it generated in 2012.

As a result, the ratio of claims to GWP improved to 63.9% in 2013 from 65.4% in 2012.

The ABI stats also show that motor insurance was the biggest source of claims for the industry, judging by average daily claims.

Insurers paid out £17.1m in claims a day in 2013 from a total of almost 3 million claims.

They paid £11.1m a day in property claims, of which £8.1m was for domestic properties and £3m for commercial.

And they paid £6.8m in liability claims a day, of which £2.3m was for employers’ liability.