The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have launched a voluntary industry-wide Total Signposting Commitment.
The commitment is largely-based on the signposting arrangements in place for protection insurance and several other types of cover.
It aims to make it easier for retail customers to find suitable insurance and improve financial resilience.
In early 2021, BIBA pledged to put signposting at its core in its 2021 Manifesto.
And in 2023, the organisation renewed an industry agreement that it first secured in 2020, to signpost customers with medical conditions to specialists after it helped more than 30,000 consumers seek life and protection insurance.
The commitment follows on from the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which identified total signposting as an intervention which can help tackle barriers to individual and households’ ability to access affordable and appropriate financial products and services.
BIBA said the new commitment will help address the issue of where customers struggle to navigate the market or assume they cannot be insured at all by embedding a culture of total signposting across the industry.
It should ensure that when a provider cannot offer cover, customers are directed to an alternative provider who is known to be able to help or to BIBA’s Find Insurance Service.
This commitment applies to personal lines general insurance policies across all sales channels including online, telephone, face-to-face, and call centres.
The trade body’s Access to Insurance Committee will oversee its implementation and ongoing monitoring.
The ABI and BIBA have committed to regularly promoting total signposting to their members to embed this as good practice across the sector.
The initiative builds on successful existing signposting agreements for age, flood risk, medical conditions, and protection insurance, which have already helped over 1.7 million people access suitable cover, BIBA added.
‘Brokers have a key role’
Lucy Rigby MP, economic secretary to the Treasury, said: “Brokers have a key role to play in ensuring businesses and consumers can access the insurance cover they need.
“I am grateful for BIBA and the wider industry’s support for the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, including the commitment to introduce total signposting.
“This is an important measure to help promote access to insurance products, helping more people find the cover they need to build their financial resilience.”
Graeme Trudgill, chief executive of BIBA, said: “This is really going to help consumers to ensure they have the vital insurance protection in place when they need it.
“We’ve already seen multiple successful signposting initiatives and this will help the government’s aim of improving financial resilience and help prevent consumers being left unprotected.
“We are committed to taking this forward with members and the wider industry so that total signposting becomes business as usual.”
Hannah Gurga, director general of the ABI, added: “The ABI looks forward to working with BIBA and other partners to deliver the commitments in the government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy.”
