The Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance reported today that 4702 complaints had been received by his office over the past 6 months, an increase of over 8% on the corresponding period last year.
The bulk of these complaints, 2156, were classified as full cases, an increase of 19.6% over the corresponding period last year. Further analysis showed that the majority of complaints received, and the largest increase, was in the category of “Claims Declined”. The type of insurance that showed the largest increase in complaints was funeral insurance, increasing by a massive 31.7%
Judge Galgut attributes the increase in complaints to a number of factors – an increase in general public awareness of the office, an increased sense of consumerism amongst policyholders, changes to the Policy Protection Rules (PPR) and other possible factors such as the introduction of a centralised help- line. The changes to the PPR now require the insurer to disclose the contact details of the Ombudsman for Long- term Insurance when a claim is declined.
Interestingly, cases finalised for the period showed a reduction in the percentage of cases resolved wholly or partially in favour of the complainant (W/P). The 2011 percentage was 39.5%, well down on the 48% for the same period last year. In line with this, the W/P for the two main categories of cases, Claims Declined and Service related complaints, both decreased substantially. This decrease might show that policyholders are still experiencing financial hardship and are becoming more persistent with accessing every avenue to ensure their claims are met.
During the same period the office received 30635 telephone calls from first time callers. Of these, over 50% were actually for insurers, and not for the office. This suggests that insurers need to more prominently display their contact details and complaints handling process on their policy documents, statements, letters and website to ensure policyholders are able to contact them. They also need to ensure that they have efficient and user friendly contact channels.
The centralised helpline (0860 Ombuds -0860 662837) serves the offices of the Ombudsman for Long –term Insurance, the Ombudsman for Short-term Insurance, the Ombudsman for Banking Services, the Credit Ombud, the Pension Funds Adjudicator and the National Credit Regulator. Consumers who call with financial complaints will obtain assistance or be transferred to the relevant ombudsman office.
