APPG backs consumer insurance contract law changes

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services (APPG) has given strong backing to the proposals to reform consumer insurance contract law.

The group, made up of Members of Parliament and Lords, met the Law Commission and supporters of reform last month to hear the latest on the proposed Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Bill.

With support from many in the insurance industry already assured, the meeting received confirmation from the Association of British Insurers that it also backs the bill. The ABI said that it had written to the Treasury to say that it supported the proposals.

Jonathan Evans MP, chairman of the APPG said he hoped the bill would now speed its way through Parliament, ending decades of pressure for reform.

The Law Commission's proposals which the bill aims to enact will bring the law into line with the existing guidance and practice of the Financial Ombudsman Service and the policies of many insurers. It will remove out-of-date presumptions about disclosure which many argue are biased against consumers.