Ahead of Learning Disability Week (June 20-27), home insurance claim specialist, Property Claim Assist, is alerting those with learning disabilities, and those who help them with their financial affairs, about its useful new resource ‘Entitled to More’.
This booklet, produced in response to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) demand for financial services companies to do more to assist vulnerable adults with their financial needs, is highly relevant for adults with learning disabilities.
What is ‘Entitled to More’?
‘Entitled to More’ highlights the way in which the home insurance process is stacked against all homeowners, not just vulnerable adults. Any home insurance claim is adjudicated by a loss adjuster, who represents the insurer and their interest in the claim, not the homeowner’s interest. Asking any adult, let alone a vulnerable one or one with a disability, to try to negotiate with a highly experienced loss adjuster, who is not acting on their behalf, is just unfair.
The good part, as the booklet highlights, is that the homeowner or vulnerable adult does not have to go it alone. Although there is a veil of silence about this in the insurance and financial services sector, they have the legal right to appoint their own representative – a loss assessor. That simple action levels the expertise playing field, giving them someone fighting their corner and interpreting their insurance policy’s small print in a way that aims to restore their property accurately.
What Does a Loss Assessor do?
Appointing a loss assessor provides support, at an emotional as well as practical level, throughout the claim process. It removes the stress of having to try to battle through negotiations, phone insurer call centres and try to get a claims’ department to move the claim forward at a time when such departments are all struggling to cope with workload.
It provides someone who will explain things in plain English and offer reassurances; who will fight to get the property back to its pre-loss condition, not accept repairs that reinstate it in a poorer way or a way that impacts on the homeowner’s living standards.
It also removes the need and stress of sourcing tradespeople for quotes and the worry of potentially bringing in a cowboy builder. If Property Claim Assist uses its vetted contractors to handle the schedule of works, there is no need for such quotes and, if Property Claim Assist’s contractors handle the repairs, the homeowner or vulnerable adult pays nothing for the service provided by Property Claim Assist.
What the Experts Have to Say
“The insurance industry cannot expect someone with learning disabilities to be able to interpret their home insurance policy’s small print and jargon and negotiate with a fully trained loss adjuster,” says Property Claim Assist’s Gary Rogers,“ and yet it does.
“There is no attempt made to advise policyholders of the existence of loss assessing support, so our ‘Entitled to More’ booklet is doing that. It’s time that all vulnerable adults, as well as all homeowners in general, were given the full facts about the rights they can take up. It is not in the insurers’ interests to do so, as it means policyholders typically gain their full entitlement, which is not what insurers bargain for when setting aside reserves to settle claims. It is, however, the only fair way to treat those who buy home insurance protection.
“We hope that we can make more noise about this during Learning Disability Week and start to make more homeowners aware of the support available to them, at no cost.”
How to Download ‘Entitled to More’
To download the ‘Entitled to More’ booklet, click here.
