Recent years have seen two major pieces of legislation reforming insurance law. The 2012 Act giving extra protection to consumers came into force in 2013, but has essentially been given retrospective effect by the Financial Ombudsman Service for all cases referred to it. Its provisions are wide-ranging, making it harder for insurers to avoid a policy for mistakes when applying for a policy, giving remedies proportional to the harm done to the insurer by these and other mistakes – rather than the sledgehammer approach of throwing a claim out, and generally offering the public what a buyer of insurance is reasonably entitled to expect.

The 2015 Act comes into force in August 2016 and is a wholesale revision of laws in force for more than a hundred years which gave insurers more strength in the operation and interpretation of the insurance contract than that possessed by the policyholder. Now there is an equality of rights and duties. The changes are wide-ranging and complex, and there will undoubtedly be a settling down period before all the implications are fully worked out.

In time, there will – or should be – less litigation and less occasion for difficulties on claims. But difficulties there will still be. At Thompson and Bryan we have a contentious claims operation, and are happy to look at any case where problems arise. We have a variety of fee bases, and in each case we tailor the fee to the particular policyholder’s demands and needs after discussion to establish what is best for the client.

For more information on claim problem-solving, please contact us.

Recent years have seen two major pieces of legislation reforming insurance law. The 2012 Act giving extra protection to consumers came into force in 2013, but has essentially been given retrospective effect by the Financial Ombudsman Service for all cases referred to it. Its provisions are wide-ranging, making it harder for insurers to avoid a policy for mistakes when applying for a policy, giving remedies proportional to the harm done to the insurer by these and other mistakes – rather than the sledgehammer approach of throwing a claim out, and generally offering the public what a buyer of insurance is reasonably entitled to expect.

The 2015 Act comes into force in August 2016 and is a wholesale revision of laws in force for more than a hundred years which gave insurers more strength in the operation and interpretation of the insurance contract than that possessed by the policyholder. Now there is an equality of rights and duties. The changes are wide-ranging and complex, and there will undoubtedly be a settling down period before all the implications are fully worked out.

In time, there will – or should be – less litigation and less occasion for difficulties on claims. But difficulties there will still be. At Thompson and Bryan we have a contentious claims operation, and are happy to look at any case where problems arise. We have a variety of fee bases, and in each case we tailor the fee to the particular policyholder’s demands and needs after discussion to establish what is best for the client.

For more information on claim problem-solving, please contact us.