The UK justice system was facing enormous challenges, long before the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns. Tony Buss, MD of ARAG, explains how access to justice was already declining in the UK, how the legal profession has adapted and what the longer-term consequences are likely to be.

It is no secret that the UK justice system has been struggling for some time.

Justice and the population’s ability to access it are not easy things to quantify, but some measures are clear and irrefutable.

Darren Wray, CEO of Fifth Step a firm that has over a ten years experience of helping to improve insurance businesses in London and international markets examines some of the process and technology implications of the pandemic. 

In a guest blog for youTalk-insurance, Ben Moore, General Manager at QuoteSearcher analysed vital data which highlighted that valuable new business opportunities could be being missed by UK based insurance brokers.

It’s one thing to implement a lead generation strategy, but what’s the point if you switch off at 5:00pm?

The fact is, a huge section of your potential customer base don’t look for insurance during the day, they’re busy working. 

With the UK officially in recession for the first time in 11 years and unemployment increasing, the impact of Coronavirus is having far reaching consequences across all industries, including our own.

While this is very challenging and will continue to be so, the pandemic has also had an additional and perhaps less expected impact. It has shaken our assumptions about ‘traditional’ ways of working.

In an very personal, heartfelt and brave blog written for youTalk-insurance Ben McBean QBE Europe’s Assistant Claims Manager and sometimes star of the BBC TV anti insurance fraud series ‘Claimed and Shamed’ explains how taking up the challenge of swimming two great English lakes acted as both therapy for his ongoing mental health issues and helped to raise awareness of a charity for children’s autism he help to launch...

I think you’ll agree, there were no big surprises in the FCA 2020/2021 plan released in April. Top topics were; technology, fair pricing, broker remuneration, financial crime and culture.

The FCA said, “We will not compromise on our expectations of firms, particularly that they make consumers’ interests the foundation of their business models and behave accordingly.” That report was issued 3 months ago (at the start of lockdown) and the big question is, have the FCA priorities changed since then?

In a guest blog for youTalk-insurance, Sheena Thomson, a crisis and issues communications leader, examines approaches to reputation management, why insurers and brokers must pay close attention in a post-coronavirus world, and some top-line guidance on how to do this successfully.

There is an expression in the media; “If it bleeds, it leads”.

I can’t recall a time when business interruption insurance was covered as much in the press; or as negatively.

It is a long-standing paradox; policy wordings are difficult to understand for many customers and so, are often misunderstood or remain unread completely while insurers are reluctant to rewrite these tried and tested wordings which have evolved over time by precedent, so as to avoid inadvertently exposing themselves to unintended risk.

In a guest blog for youTalk-insurance, Managing Director Paul Handleigh reminds us to spare a thought for our past insurance colleagues and friends as part of our VE Day celebrations this Friday.   

Friday will be a cause for double celebration in my household. Admittedly the second cause for celebration will be more sombre, but it will be a celebration nonetheless.

The radio was on in the background last weekend whilst I was wrestling my way through the doorstep of paper that is The Sunday Times.

I was stopped in my tracks when I heard the radio presenter mention that according to the charity Refuge, phone calls to The National Domestic Abuse helpline had increased by 25% since the Coronavirus lockdown had started.