Sedgwick, Square Mile Broking and the in-house transportation claims team at FirstGroup were among the big winners at the British Claims Awards last night.
Seventeen winners picked up 22 awards during the ceremony at the Leonardo Royal Hotel St Paul’s in London, where attendees celebrated claims as a service.
Claims management firm Sedgwick was the night’s big winner, securing Loss Adjuster of the Year and the Major Loss Award. Sedgwick’s customer care manager, Lauren Glover, also won the Rising Star Award.
Co-Op Insurance won the coveted Outstanding Services to the Policyholder award, for reengineering its escape of water claims service and creating a customer journey that was speedier and less disruptive.
London-based independent firm Square Mile Broking secured a brace of awards, picking up both Broker of the Year and Commercial Lines Broker of the Year.
Two disruptors beat the established competition to win Law Firm of the Year, the Counter Fraud Award and Outstanding Achievement of the Year.
Crawford & Company Legal Services, which was licensed as an alternative business structure in 2016, won Law Firm of the Year for its impact on the legal aspect of claims in such a short period of time.
The in-house claims team at FirstGroup, a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America, won the Counter Fraud Award for its work to protect the safety of employees, passengers and financial assets.
Julie Randle, FirstGroup’s fraud prevention officer, also won Outstanding Achievement of the Year.
Elizabeth Fairburn, head of claims response at Direct Line Group, won Claims Director of the Year.
Coplus, the UK motor, legal and property claims handling provider, was recognised for its work on staff development with the Training Award.
Mark Dugdale, editor of Claims Media, congratulated the winners and finalists. He said: “Claims, as a service, is the insurance industry’s shop window, but also its promise to policyholders and partners that when something bad happens, whether a flood or a prang, support and help will be on-hand. That’s the promise of insurance, and one the industry must strive to keep.”
“It’s with this in mind that we were thrilled to hold the British Claims Awards, where we could celebrate the sector’s achievements over the past year and look forward to the next 12 months.”
Jonathan Clark, president of the Chartered Insurance Institute and chair of the judging panel, described choosing the winners and finalists as “an ever more difficult task”.
He said: “This speaks well to the service that we as claim professionals can provide to our insurance customers who are really the judges of what we do. It is important that we should never forget the diversity of the customers we serve and treat them as individuals