Society in new drive for common PII proposal form
The Law Society today asked brokers and insurers to adopt a composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance (PII) in an effort to simplify the process of obtaining multiple quotes.
The Society said it had secured support for its composite proposal form amongst ‘some of the major names providing PII coverage to solicitors’. It said it would reveal names later this week.
Chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘The need to fill in the same or similar information about the firm to satisfy the requirements of different insurers seems unnecessarily time-consuming and extremely frustrating.’ He said that Ireland has successfully introduced a common proposal form for many of the same insurers working in England and Wales.
'Some, though not all, insurers and brokers have helped design this form. The result is a composite form that has a sufficient degree of commonality that it should be broadly acceptable to qualifying insurers with minimal supplementary questions. From working with those insurers and brokers willing to collaborate we are seeing parts of the PII sector embrace this approach, for the benefit of our members.'
The Society said it would publish and update details of companies that will accept the composite proposal form on its website throughout the renewal process.
Solicitors are urged to ask their broker and insurers if they accept the form when seeking cover.
The Law Society’s Composite proposal form is available at the practice support pages.
Comments
Common proposal form - Viewpoint
Whilst the aims of the Law Society to achieve a common PI proposal form are commendable it will only be achievable if there is a willingness from the whole market to sign up to it. In other areas of general insurance similar aims by the industry’s largest insurers have consumed vast amounts of time and money with only marginal success. Speaking to a number of key individuals at high profile PI insurers, it is clear that a consensus does not exist and many have stated that they are “bemused by both the concept and the consultation process”.
It could be argued that the Law Society has failed to recognise that a common proposal form will further commoditise a market which should be relying on long term personal relationships and not the generic cost driven exercise the Law Society are either actively, or blindly promoting.
If a client wants to use a common proposal form my advice in the first instance would be to talk to my professional adviser and ask them if it's a good idea. It may be they can provide a short proposal from their existing insurance provider and renew at a premium they are happy with. Would this not be a far better solution?
What about Bank Panels
Would it not be great if the LS could get the mortgage providers to do the same thing and use CQS data rather than us having to waste hours and hours of time providing the same information to different institutions.