8th April 2024
The first show post Easter opened with our contributor Seamus Gunn focusing on the Report published by the Central Bank on the latest Data from the National Claims Information Database with the stark headline that while the average cost of Public and Employer Liability Claims dropped by a third in 2022, premiums increased by 8%. He said that this was yet another report on the insurance industry that he did not believe was addressing the issues and the difficulties that the premium increases give rise to in small businesses, commercial activities, voluntary community and sporting groups and those that are relying on such insurance. He said that the market was too restricted and condensed, that there was a lack of competition while providers have been leaving the market in recent times. He focused on the point that has been made for some time that it was the level of claims that had been driving up premiums. He was of the view that this argument could no longer be sustained. He referenced the books of quantum that were introduced by PIAB over the years from 2003.
The Judicial Council in 2021 introduced new guidelines which Gunn said were the subject of a challenge currently running in the Supreme Court, but regardless of this he believed that the net effect of the latest guidelines would be to drive up claims as the awards based on them coming from the now Injuries Resolution Board (formerly PIAB) were so low that they were being challenged through the Courts and in a lot of instances, successfully, thereby fixing the Injuries Resolution Board with Higher Damages. The knock-on effect was that this added significantly to legal costs. Our contributor was of the view that the Book of Quantum preceding 2021 was adequate and he made the point that the current study and report while refencing the year 2022, most of the claims, 76%, referenced the old Book of Quantum and this still resulted in a reduction by a third to the cost of claims in the public and employer liability sector. He said that his prediction that if the guidelines were not struck down in the Supreme Court, then they would result in further litigation as the awards currently were inadequate. He said that time would tell. It was suggested that it was a matter that should be addressed to some of the leading insurance companies to explain how awards coming down were not being converted to savings on premiums.
As always, a very broad Q&A followed.
Postscript, since the show on the 5th of April the Supreme Court have upheld the latest Judicial Guidelines as introduced by the Judicial Council in 2021.