The scale of the pandemic on loss adjusting has been laid bare after Woodgate & Clark reported a 2,300% increase in the number of business interruption claims it dealt with between March 2020 and February 2021.
Julie Groves (pictured), head of the business interruption claims unit at Woodgate & Clark, said the huge increase in cases was a game changer for loss adjusting, driving significant changes to how the company navigated its way through the surge, and providing the industry with plenty of learnings for the future.
“We have worked our way through 75% of the caseload and expect to have completed the majority of this process by the end of the summer,” Groves said. “Dealing with this has been a massive challenge and an incredible learning experience for us all.”
She added: “Of course, business interruption is additional to the recent flooding, and other perils we have managed on behalf of our clients.
Between February 2019 and March 2020, Woodgate & Clark handled 259 business interruption claims. The company’s caseload shot up to nearly 6,000 during the subsequent 12-month period, with the majority being Covid-related claims.
Julie Groves
Groves, who joined Woodgate & Clark in February this year, said: “Our approach, which sees each case assigned to a named adjuster who follows the case through from start to finish, has proved to be the best way to work through the cases from a customer perspective as well as the insurers.”
“Policyholders feel looked after; they can ask questions and get the right information from a real person, which makes sense because these are complex claims, especially as we’ve needed to navigate our way and develop procedures not just with insurers but with their legal teams as well.”