By: 10 May 2023
BIBA survey of brokers urges insurers to improve service levels

Insurers should consider getting back to basics when serving both their broker partners and policyholders after they performed poorly in a British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA)-commissioned survey.

That was one piece of advice to come from the afternoon seminar on providing great customer service in a post-pandemic world at the BIBA Conference today.

The focus of the seminar was the first set of results from the UK Insurers Monitor, an independent survey of UK broker opinion launched in partnership with BIBA last year after the association noted widespread dismay at service levels.

At the time of today’s seminar, consultancy firm Gracechurch has conducted more than 500 interviews with brokers. A baseline was secured in September 2022 and initial results were delivered in January. A fresh report will be delivered every six months.

The survey is ongoing, with brokers urged during the conference today to sign up and take part. BIBA and Gracechurch aim to make the UK Insurers Monitor “the leading industry survey on insurer service—the one that all the leading insurers use to prioritise service improvement”.

The initial results reflect poorly on insurers, with only five of the 21 ranked UK insurers receiving a positive NPS score. The average market score was –13 and there was a disparity of 57 points between the best and worst insurers, suggesting widespread inconsistencies.

Ben Bolton, managing director of Gracechurch, suggested that brokers may be most disappointed with the inconsistencies among insurers, since they tend to deal with a high volume of insurer partners.

They are keen to receive a better service from insurers, seemingly at a basic level. This means that insurers need to generally improve, including their response times and the provision of support from experienced staff.

Bolton summarised required improvements in systems, processes and communications as “basic, basic things”.

Neil Galjaard, divisional managing director at specialist insurer Markel UK in charge of retail business across its insurance, tax and legal capabilities, said that good service is all about doing the basics well, from paying claims to sharing knowledge, but real differentiation comes from value-adds.

Markel UK, for example, is an insurer to the social care sector, where it provides bespoke care practitioner consultancy on a range of regulatory, risk and commercial matters.

Staying on the care sector and Markel’s service levels, March 2020, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed in the UK, was a highly challenging time for care providers.

Merkel UK responded well, according to Galjaard, with the insurer paying its first claims as early as the month after lockdown, when its staff were largely working from home. The insurer has grown since, expanded office space and opened new locations.

Image: © Andrii Yalanskyi via Canva
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