We're expanding the significant work we had planned to improve standards in the home and travel insurance markets, following Which?’s super complaint.
Read our response to Which? (PDF)[2]
While 79% of consumers who make an insurance claim are satisfied with how it was handled, our work shows there's room for improvement - with 3 in 10 (31%) saying there isn’t enough information to judge the quality of different policies.
Over the next year, we will do more to:
- Improve claims handling, by reviewing firms' customer service and delivery and how they oversee third parties that handle claims.
- Improve consumer understanding of what their insurance covers, by analysing the different ways firms are selling products.
We're already seeing industry act on our calls to improve customer understanding. We will use the findings from our reviews to continue working with firms, trade bodies and consumer groups, so people have the right information at the point of sale to make informed decisions.
We will continue to act against insurance firms where we have concerns. Since our review of home and travel insurers in July, we have:
- Opened 2 enforcement cases.
- Stopped 1 firm from growing its business until it fixes the problems we identified.
- Launched 3 independent reviews into firms' systems and controls.
- Made 3 senior managers agree to fix problems and consider whether redress is due.
We use the best tools available to us to deliver the fastest results for consumers. That isn’t always through enforcement or market studies, which inevitably take time.
Graeme Reynolds, director of competition and interim director of insurance said:
'We welcome Which? shining a light on issues we identified in home and travel insurance.
'We’ve set out more detail on the action we've already taken to fix problems, and we're expanding our existing workplan to improve the claims process and consumer understanding of their cover.
'We’ll be monitoring consumer outcomes and will continue to hold firms and their senior leaders to account for making improvements, to help build trust and make sure people get fair value insurance.'