Meeting 3

 New Claims Trends

Travel sickness claims and beyond

Last year there was very much a focus on holiday sickness claims and what could be done by both those in the travel/tourism sectors and beyond to curb their explosion.

Twelve months on we will look at the progress and what we have learnt in the process.

This session will also look at other trends and emerging threats from cavity wall to cyber and casualty frauds, as claimant lawyers look to diversify their revenue streams as previous avenues get closed off.

Speakers: Sarah Hill, partner and Head of Fraud, BLM and Ben Fitzhugh, National Head of Intelligence, BLM

Cavity Wall Insulation Claims: Fighting back now to prevent an epidemic

Operating on grants from energy companies there was a boom industry retrofit installing Cavity Wall Insulation, in millions of homes.

Where systems were installed poorly or were never suitable for the property, some homes suffered penetrating damp and legitimate claims followed.

For many years these were infrequent. However, continuing to diversify their businesses the claims farming industry became alerted to CWI as a claims stream, with websites and dedicated CWI claims companies appearing. 

The result of this activity became evident last year when the insurance industry witnessed a claims surge.

In this session Axa will outline how it has organised itself to fight back against the complex challenges arising from CWI claims, successfully repudiating hundreds of claims and saving millions in the process.

Speaker: Andy Williams, Technical Strategy Manager, Axa Insurance

Local Authority Focus – The Pothole Claims Epidemic

Earlier this year the AA reported that there had been a 171% rise in pothole claims over first four months of 2018 - more than the whole of last year.  Based on the AA’s market share, nationally this is estimated to total over £1m a month.  In this session we will hear from their analysis of data, what the AA are seeing in terms of types of claim; what they might have uncovered in Freedom of Information requests on how potholes affect driving tests; what AA members say through the AA’s Populus panel and what can be done in terms of canvassing the Government to address what has been described as an “epidemic”.

Speaker: Ian Crowder, Head of Public Relations, The AA

Managing general agents and the claims value chain: A panel discussion

With the Managing General Agent ranks continuing to swell in terms of numbers and premium written, this Claims Club session will look at the relationship between insurers, MGAs and third party administrators.

It will focus on how much responsibility is taken by MGAs, shared or outsourced; whether this has shifted in terms of MGAs taking greater interest in claims; and how MGAs manage the risks and processes related to choosing and working with external claims service providers;

Among the other questions we will ask are how do you integrate TPAs so that they act as an extension of an MGA and whether different skillsets are required of MGA claims staff, when compared to traditional insurers.

Confirmed panellists:

Gareth Crosbie, claims director, Pen Underwriting

Tony Scott, head of claims, Geo Underwriting

Richard Webb, director, Manchester Underwriting Management