Super-complaint over home and travel insurance 'failings'

WHICH? is making a supercomplaint to the City regulator over its concerns about "serious failings" in the home and travel insurance markets.

- VICKY SHAW

The consumer champion said it is focusing on these two types of insurance because they have some of the lowest levels of claims acceptance rates, and the impact on a consumer when something goes wrong can be significant.

It said some of the stories it has heard from consumers have been "heartbreaking".

The super-complaint, being made to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is about the markets as a whole, not specific firms.

Over the past year, Which?'s "end the insurance ripoff" campaigning work has produced research reports that the consumer group said expose poor customer experiences - from consumer confusion over what is covered by a policy, to "frustrating and substandard treatment" when people claim.

The regulator has carried out indepth reviews of claims-handling in home and travel insurance, first in 2014 and more recently this summer.

Which? highlighted the FCA's statutory objective to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers. It said it is launching a super-complaint now "because consumers cannot afford to wait any longer".

Which? said that as well as surveys and interviews, analysis of Financial Ombudsman Service decisions and legal analysis has been carried out.

Its super-complaint focuses on three main concerns - poor claimshandling; inappropriate sales processes; and what it claims is a lack of application and enforcement of FCA rules and other relevant law.

Which? said it has heard from hundreds of people "who have been left to endure ordeals at the hands of their insurers".

By law, the regulator has 90 days to respond to the super-complaint.