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What is the Insurance Fraud Taskforce?
The Insurance Fraud Taskforce was set up in January 2015 as a means to tackle the UK’s growing insurance fraud problem. The current chairman is David Hertzell, its members are as follows:
- Association of British Insurers
- Citizens Advice
- Insurance Fraud Bureau
- British Insurance Brokers’ Association
- Financial Ombudsman Service
- Financial Services Consumer Panel
What does the IFT do?
According to the official government website, the Insurance Fraud Taskforce is there to investigate why fraudulent behaviour takes place in the first place. They then use this information to reduce the level of insurance fraud in the UK. This in turn lowers costs, as well as serving to protect the interests of honest UK customers.
That’s the thing about insurance fraud; it’s the minority that engage in this type of criminal activity, creating issues for the honest majority through higher insurance premiums.
Government acceptance of IFT recommendations
In May 2016, the Insurance Fraud Taskforce were delighted when the government accepted their recommendations. This was a giant step in the right direction to dramatically reduce insurance fraud in the UK.
The Insurance Fraud Taskforce recommend that the government reviews ways that fraudulent claims can be discouraged through changes to the system, including directing older claims through to the small claims process, introducing a damages award range for soft tissue injuries and reducing recoverable costs by half, if an injury claim takes place too late.
For more information on insurance fraud, click here.
