The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and the ABI have launched a new voluntary industry-wide Total Signposting Commitment. It aims to make it easier for retail customers to find suitable insurance, and improve financial resilience.
The commitment follows the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which identified total signposting as an intervention which can help tackle barriers to individual and households’ ability to access affordable and appropriate financial products and services.
For many consumers, finding suitable insurance can be complex especially for those with non-standard needs. While solutions often exist through specialist brokers, customers may struggle to navigate the market or assume they cannot be insured at all. The new commitment will help address this by embedding a culture of total signposting across the industry, ensuring that when a provider cannot offer cover, customers are directed to an alternative provider who is known to be able to help or to BIBA’s Find Insurance Service.
Lucy Rigby MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, commented: “Brokers have a key role to play in ensuring businesses and consumers can access the insurance cover they need. I am grateful for BIBA and the wider industry’s support for the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, including the commitment to introduce total signposting. This is an important measure to help promote access to insurance products, helping more people find the cover they need to build their financial resilience.”
The ABI and BIBA will regularly promote total signposting to their members to embed this as good practice across the sector. The initiative builds on successful existing signposting agreements for age, flood risk, medical conditions, and protection insurance, which have already helped over 1.7 million people access suitable cover.
Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s Chief Executive, said: “This is really going to help consumers to ensure that they have the vital insurance protection in place when they need it. We’ve already seen multiple successful signposting initiatives and this will help the Government’s aim of improving financial resilience and help prevent consumers being left unprotected. We are committed to taking this forward with members and the wider industry so that total signposting becomes business as usual.”
Achieving total signposting has been an ongoing BIBA Manifesto commitment and builds on years of work with the Government, the regulator, consumer groups, industry and charities to help improve access to insurance for consumers including those with specialist needs.
Hannah Gurga, ABI Director General, said: “The ABI looks forward to working with BIBA and other partners to deliver the commitments in the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy.”
This commitment applies to personal lines general insurance policies across all sales channels including online, telephone, face-to-face, and call centres. The BIBA Access to Insurance Committee will oversee its implementation and ongoing monitoring.
BIBA is a not for profit organisation and it’s Find Insurance Service can be reached on 0370 950 1790 or www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance
View a copy of the commitment.
Find out more in our explainer document here.
