Insurance premiums continue to spiral, says reform alliance

Survey shows increases despite fall in claim costs

The survey shows the hospitality sector saw premiums increase 9% despite a significant drop in the level of activity. Picture: iStock

Insurance premiums continue to spiral even as costs plummet, the Alliance for Insurance Reform has said.

Publishing the results of an ongoing survey of more than 450 businesses and voluntary groups, the alliance said premiums in some sectors have jumped more than 120% despite trends in claims costs and recent reforms.

Research published last week by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) showed personal injury awards were down 40% due to new guidelines.

Despite this, the alliance survey shows premiums have increased by 15% on average on renewal, with hospitality premiums up 9% despite a significant drop in the level of activity, nursing homes seeing average increases on renewal of 35%, and homecare businesses seeing average increases of 122%.

"Everything is being done to facilitate affordable insurance and yet we still see premiums increasing," said Tracy Sheridan, owner of Kidspace play centres and director of the alliance. 

'Unsustainably high'

"Before the pandemic, premiums were already unsustainably high for so many sectors of Irish society. Now, if the economy and society as a whole are going to recover from the pandemic, premiums must come down significantly for SMEs, voluntary and community groups, sports and cultural organisations, and charities as a matter of urgency."

Peter Boland, director of the alliance, said insurers cannot be relied upon to pass on savings. 

"Government must act now to improve competition by getting additional underwriters into the market as a matter of extreme urgency. They must ensure that insurers hold firm on the new judicial guidelines rather than settling at higher rates to clear claims," he said.

"And they must rebalance the duty of care in a way that is fair, reasonable, practical, proportionate, and in the public interest; reform PIAB in a meaningful way; and get a publicly owned fraud database established. 

"Ultimately, they must ensure that all the savings being made are passed on to consumers so that Ireland gets affordable insurance right now and in the long term.”