Pen Underwriting’s innovative escape of water claims process could save industry almost £100m a year

A new escape of water claims process devised and delivered by specialist insurance business Pen Underwriting, in partnership with third-party administrator Davies Group, has the potential to reduce related industry indemnity spend by almost £100 million a year, Pen Underwriting said.

It is also expected to cut the time taken to handle and resolve customer claims.

Nine months after launching its comprehensive overhaul of the claims process for escape of water, Pen Underwriting said it has recorded reductions in average claim lifecycle and average claim spend that significantly exceed its own targets for the initiative.

In January 2019, Pen set itself a target of a 10 percent saving on indemnity spend and a 15 percent reduction in the time taken to settle domestic escape of water claims having worked in close collaboration with Davies to re-engineer the entire process from first notification of loss to final resolution.

To date, average claim spend has been cut by 15 percent while the revamped process has delivered a significant reduction in average claim lifecycle from 50+ days to only 23 days — a reduction of 46 percent — while achieving a strong net promotor score of 75 from customers on all closed claims to date.

Escape of water remains one of the largest peril spend in domestic property claims, costing the industry an estimated £657 million a year, according to the Association of British Insurers, with insurers paying out £1.8 million for it every day. Cutting that collective claims spend by 15 percent could see the industry save £98.5 million.

But the biggest impact of the initiative has been on radically reducing inconvenience for customers, with remote evaluation and quicker decisions using video to identify and implement the right solution — often completely eliminating the need for claim validation appointments.

The initiative also uses virtual reality technology to intensively train dedicated handlers within Pen’s claims hub in the nuances of water damage and the exploration of creative solutions, alongside traditional methods, to deliver the best possible customer outcome.

Gareth Crosbie, claims director for Pen Underwriting, said: "The impact of this new claims process has been transformational. Together with Davies, we recognised that a different approach to claims handling on escape of water claims was needed. Using our expertise combined with both readily available and new technology - not only in the training of claims handlers, but also in the interaction with our customers - has allowed us to quickly identify the severity of an escape of water claim and direct the claim appropriately. This minimises the inconvenience of a claim for the customer, increases customer satisfaction and reduces both the claims lifecycle and indemnity spend.”

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