SOCP chair Sue McCall reveals high ambitions for the claims profession

“We’re working to increase the profile of the SOCP. I still meet people in claims who say ‘what is it you do at the society?’.” Society of Claims Professionals chair Sue McCall.

· Professional body expressly dedicated to claims
· Building public trust is a core objective for 2020
· Support for vulnerable customers a key pillar
· New Generation group brings fresh thinking

The society was quick to include a COVID-19 advice hub on its website when the outbreak began, and its chair Sue McCall is clear that the SOCP has big plans to continue to support its members in 2020.

For an industry body set up as recently as January 2019, the Society of Claims Professionals (SOCP) seems to have hit the ground running, although SOCP chair Sue McCall says the society has a lot more work to do in 2020.

Launched as a dedicated professional body for the more than 20,000 people who work in claims insurance in the UK alone, SOCP is part of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).

In its first year of operation, the claims body set to work improving consumer confidence in the sector. McCall says that despite the fact that a large percentage of claims are met, a common gripe sector professionals hear is that “claims don’t get paid”.

She disagrees, insisting that a lot of claims are paid, and that it’s high time the sector shouted louder about what it really does.

“Building public trust is one of our core objectives. We need to change the perception that claims are not being paid. It is one of the key things we are looking at this year: how can we increase public trust in insurers, particularly in the claims process?” she says.

She says a number of insurers now talk about the percentage of claims they pay and are trying to get the information out there.

“Then the public can see that we’re not all looking for ways not to pay claims, and that we’re actually looking at how we can deliver on the promise to the customer.”

Early achievements

This year’s efforts to elevate the profession’s reputation will build on the foundations put in place in 2019.

“A bespoke website (www.socp.org.uk), launched in April 2019, plus guides on good practice sit at the heart of what we do for our members,” says McCall.

There is certainly plenty of professional insight, information, podcasts and videos available on the website. Information covers a variety of subjects from business interruption, COVID-19, flooding, cyber, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the senior management certification regime, regulation of claims management companies, and something that McCall is very passionate about: the society’s work around supporting vulnerable customers.

“A lot of work went into that following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consultation launched in July 2019. That was a feature in 2019, because all insurers should be addressing it now,” she explains.

While the guidelines are currently under consultation with insurers, the FCA suggests that they should be in place now, she adds.

“We should be looking at treating vulnerable customers fairly and identifying them now.”

In the same spirit, the SOCP offers a dementia-friendly guide for insurers that was written with UK charity the Alzheimer’s Society.

With around 10,000 members, the SOCP has the opportunity to have a wide impact. McCall explains: “For us it’s about understanding what our members and prospective members want from their society. We want to be as inclusive and supportive as we can, and create that environment.

“As a relatively new society, we know what we, as professionals, would want, and what the claims people that we work with want. We know what’s topical, what’s happening in the claims environment: for example, technical bulletins and guidelines on things of interest, legislative changes, disputed claims, fraud, etc.

“Following the COVID-19 outbreak, a coronavirus hub has been added to the website. It offers up-to-date advice and information for claims professionals.

“We look at thought leadership, and the programme of continued professional development, including exams,” she adds.

As chair of the SOCP, McCall refuses to be overly presumptuous and adds that the society wants to find out more about what its members want.

The society already uses its website, bulletins and events to engage with claims professionals and get under the skin of their priorities and requirements. It has also chosen to collaborate with other organisations such as the British Insurance Brokers’ Association and the FCA, among others, to feed into the SOCP’s future development, as well as having a constant dialogue with the CII.

“We talked to various organisations about what we do and how we could collaborate to profile claims,” McCall says.

Another key development area that brings in fresh thinking is the New Generation Group, to which SOCP gives thought leadership and guidance. McCall explains that this group come from different parts of the UK with different skillsets to work together on a range of projects. It includes people she describes as “some of the brightest young claims professionals” coming through.

Last year, the group launched a riot compensation claims guide, in collaboration with the UK government, published in March 2019. It is also working on projects looking at flooding and other issues for claims professionals.

“The riot compensation claims guide in particular was great press for the New Generation Group,” says McCall, and highlights what the SOCP has been doing.

“We’re working to increase the profile of the SOCP. I still meet people in claims who say ‘what is it you do at the society?’.”

Plans for 2020

With so much going on already, the society could be forgiven for pausing to catch its breath, but McCall says there are no plans to take its foot off the gas.

“In 2019 we laid the foundation stones on which we can build. We’ve got a long way to go, we want to get our name out there so we can engage better, so people think: ‘I’m in claims, I should be a member, what can it do for me?’. We want to know that we are pitching it at the right level,” she says.

In the year ahead, she says, a big project will be around vulnerable customers and the FCA will be putting out high level guidelines on how to treat vulnerable customers.

“That’s coming out within the next six months, so we should be doing more there. There are about 26.5 million vulnerable customers out there potentially, which is huge, and they change all the time.

“For example, one in four adults have a mental health issue in any given year, but it won’t necessarily be the same person or issue the next year. People can become vulnerable if they are getting divorced, or suffering bereavement, and you have people who are carers—there’s a whole raft of people who can be vulnerable and we need to be looking at them and how we, as the claims profession, provide the best support,” she adds.

Floods can also make people vulnerable beyond the obvious physical impacts. “If you are affected by a major flood, you’re eight times more likely to suffer stress within the first 12 months after that,” she says. “How you treat the claim, via the claims process, can create that vulnerability if it wasn’t there before. It can be similar if someone is in a road traffic collision and someone is severely injured, it all tends to create vulnerability.”

Whiplash reforms

Alongside guidance on supporting vulnerable people, the society will be putting out material for its members on whiplash reforms.

In terms of the whiplash reforms, which are expected to come out in April 2020, McCall says they will have a big impact on how claims are handled day to day.

“In motor, you’re going to have a lot more litigants coming through the process in person. To put it another way, they will be people who are not legally represented. There will be more of them because the whiplash reforms mean that for any claim sub £5,000, of which there’s a lot, costs will no longer be recoverable.”

Previously, a solicitor would put the claim through, she explains, but when the reforms are in place it will be the litigant making contact directly with the claims department, and they will not necessarily understand anything about a claim.

“For example, you might get a call with someone saying: ‘I’ve been injured, I want some compensation, what do I do?’. So you’ll have to go through a process that the solicitor might have done for you, such as the claim forms and other documents, and offering support. It will be a lot more time-consuming.

“There will be cost savings, but greater claims department skills will be needed to deal with individuals,” McCall explains.

“An Association of British Insurers code of conduct is in place for dealing with unrepresented claimants designed to ensure people receive a fair settlement, so it is not that all these litigants will be getting unfair offers. Offers of settlement need to be fair and just. But it will be a real challenge to the claims community, without a doubt.”

Another major project the SOCP is working on in 2020 is the development of a competency framework for claims. It will look at claims, careers in claims, technology and how that will evolve, as well as how to define the skills and knowledge that are needed within claims.

The plan is to have the competency framework completed this year with a working document in place.

The vulnerable customer work and the competency framework will both feed into elevating the reputation of the profession, but there is also a good business case behind them.

“If you have a customer-centric approach, the customers will return, that’s absolutely true. It aligns with improving public trust, which is another huge part of what we’re about,” McCall says.

“The perception at the moment is better with the public if they’ve had a claim, than if they haven’t. We’ve got to demonstrate our competency as professionals because the perception is that we’re not going to deliver as well as we do.”

With a successful first year in the bag and big plans for 2020, the future looks bright for SOCP and the professionals it represents.

“I’ve been in claims forever, and it’s one of the most customer-facing sectors of the insurance profession. By its nature we are dealing with customers in need of support and guidance. If we can get that right then we can really shift the way our profession is seen in wider society,” McCall says.

“The SOCP board and the calibre of new members we’re attracting says a lot about what we’re doing. My desire is to get a greater level of interaction with our society members so we can deliver on what they want.

“I hope we’re getting it right, but it would be great to have more interaction so that we have an even greater understanding of what claims professionals want and need, now and in the future.”