Health and protection disputes jump steeply

Protection and health insurance complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) leapt sharply in the second three months of the year.

Three product areas in particular saw complaints numbers grow by more than half with term assurance rocketing by more than three quarters.

Overall, the 1,565 medical and protection disputes during the period continue to be a very small part of the FOS case load of more than 140,000, but the trend will still prove concerning to many in the industry.

As previously reported by COVER, the potential for a worsening report was hinted by Melissa Collett, an ombudsman at the FOS, when speaking at the Bright Grey and Scottish Provident Future of Critical Illness conference.

In the three months to the end of September, 344 term assurance complaints were received by the FOS, up 77% on the 194 submitted in the previous quarter.

Private medical and dental insurance (up 58% to 150 from 95) and whole of life (up 52% to 596 from 393) grievances were the other two sectors to see above 50% rises confirmed.

Business protection cases rose to 49 over the period after receiving less than 30 cases in the previous period.

As the FOS does not publish data for sectors where less than 30 complaints are recorded it is not possible to calculate exact figures for this area, but it is safe to say it has risen more than half.

Other sectors were also a cause for concern with critical illness (CI) complaints growing by a third (33% to 215) and income protection by almost a fifth (18% to 211).

Figures for the proportion of disputes upheld in favour of the client have remained largely steady, although private medical and dental insurance (53%) and IP (45%) both saw increases of 4%.