MIB Newsletter - the Motor Insurers' Bureau

CONTENTS:P2 Now the net closes on LondonP3 The fight against fraud gathers paceP4 Annual customer satisfaction survey resultsP5 It's business as usualP6 The mail must get throughP6 Staff committee updateP7 Successes at the Claims Training AcademyP7 MIB finally wins its first cup competitionP8 Legal updateISSUE 11 2006OVER 30,000 UNINSUREDVEHICLES WILL BE SEIZEDAND REMOVED FROM THE UK'SROADS DURING 2006That’s one car every 20 minutes!

TOTTENHAM DECLARED LONDON'S WORSTRecent figures have exposed Tottenham asLondon's worst district for uninsured driving.The numbers of uninsured drivers inTottenham, per head of population, are morethan four times the national average.Southwark is second in London's uninsureddriving hall of shame, followed by Woolwich,Seven Sisters and Norwood Green.These statistics will help police forces crackdown on uninsured driving hotspots acrossthe capital. “Together with the police, we willmake it increasingly tougher for uninsuredmotorists in these areas to escapedetection,” said Ashton West, chief executiveof the MIB. “Now that the police know whichdistricts contain the highest proportions ofuninsured motorists, they can focus theirresources and make life very difficult forthese criminals.”The measures that police forces apply includemaking ever-increasing use of automaticnumber plate recognition (ANPR) cameras,and new hand-held technology that enablesofficers to check vehicle details at theroadside.In addition, the MIB now regularly forwardsdetails of suspected uninsured drivers directlyto police forces, under new powers containedwithin the Serious Organised Crime andPolice Act.This has enabled police forces up and downthe country to seize more than 20,000vehicles since the beginning of the year.Over 40% of these have already beencrushed, because drivers have not providedsatisfactory evidence of insurance requiredfor return of the vehicle.If the Metropolitan Police Force takes asimilar stance to Greater Manchester, wherethe driver of every seized vehicle is alsoreported for the offence of uninsured driving,rather than offered a fixed penalty notice,then the number of prosecutions will rocket inthe next 12 months.Research has shown that uninsureddrivers are:• 10 times more likely to have beenconvicted of drink-driving• 6 times more likely to have been convictedof driving a non-roadworthy vehicle• 3 times more likely to have been convictedof driving without due care and attention.NOW THE NETCLOSES ONLONDONFollowing highly successful operationsin other parts of the country, notablyLiverpool and Greater Manchester,London has become another targetin the fight against uninsured driving.A small roadside check in Haringeyon July 24th produced the followingdramatic results.35 vehicles stopped in total.16 vehicles were seized for no insurance.Six drivers were arrested, one for forgery,one for producing a forged document(altered insurance certificate), one forimmigration offences, one for theft of amotor vehicle, one who was a disqualifieddriver, and one for giving false detailsrelating to an offence of no insurance.In addition, numerous drivers werereported for other offences, and the bailiffat the scene seized a couple of carsbelonging to drivers with outstandingfines against them.THE FIGHT AGAINST FRAUD GATHERS PACEWhilst it is the overriding objective of the MotorInsurers' Bureau, and indeed all insurers, tosettle claims promptly and efficiently, it is alsoessential that processes exist to detect theminority of claims submitted with fraudulentintent.There is now an ongoing fraud project thatincludes a review of the current processesadopted within the Bureau. In addition, thereview will look at the services and softwareavailable to the insurance industry.Internally, the project is focussing on the datacaptured on the AS400 system and making useof daily reporting to highlight potential fraud.For example, SCU (Special Claims Unit) nowreceives reports indicating claims where eitherthe home, mobile or work telephone numberhas been used on an earlier claim. The sameapplies for witness details and also NationalInsurance numbers. We are also in the earlystages of defining an automated fraud scoringsystem that highlights potential fraud at thetime that the claim is first loaded onto the AS400.Finally, with regard to the internal review,a fraud procedures manual will be created andall staff will receive appropriate fraudawareness training.As part of the external review, we shall belooking at data matching software, andconsidering the use of cognitive interviewingtechniques.The MIB is represented on the committee ofboth the Insurers’ Fraud Investigators Group(IFIG) and the Eastern Fraud Forum (EFF). Bothof these bodies share the aim of increasingfraud awareness, not just within insurance, butoutside the sector as well. Members includebanks, solicitors, government agencies and thepolice.The insurance industry has taken a huge stepforward in the fight against insurance fraud,with the formation of the Insurance FraudBureau (IFB). With estimates of £3.5m of fraudbeing detected each week, this is longoverdue. The IFB will be tasked to tackle, onbehalf of the insurance industry, the problem oforganized fraud, which will largely focus on thefraud rings operating within the motor sector.There has been large-scale commitment to thisinitiative by the industry, with all the majorplayers agreeing to share their claims data.The Bureau has also committed to submitdata to the IFB.Perhaps the biggest hurdle that the industryfaces is changing the public perception ofinsurance fraud. At the moment, due to the fewconvictions, there remains the view that this isa 'victimless crime'. Certainly, with theformation of the IFB it is hoped that, with thesupport of the Police Authority, more offenderswill be brought to book.Mark JacobsAnti-Fraud Manager2 3

THE IMPROVEMENTS HAVE ALREADY STARTEDANNUAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY - YEAR 1STAFF FORUMActionsActions have already been identified and implemented to addressthe majority of the issues, namely:How claimants see the BureauOur aim is to make many more stakeholder experiences as positiveas these examples from our files of letters received.• The introduction of risk based claims handling• The introduction of the claims training and development academy• The re-design of the claim form and information booklet,which will assist in the earlier acquisition of appropriate information• Plans are in place for the reduction of files in capacity managementto the equivalent of one week's new claims by the end of the yearHonest and helpful approachthroughout all stages of the claim• Use of the telephone is being strongly encouraged as the bestmeans to progress claims• Internal quality audits have been introduced…pleasant throughout with nothingtoo much effort…• Greater controls have been put in place with our suppliers to reduceEarlier this year, and for the first time in our 60-year history,an independent survey was carried out on behalf of the Bureau.Its aim was to establish solicitors' views regarding the service currentlyprovided by MIB, together with a better understanding of customerexpectations.Conducted by Samson Consulting, one of the objectives of the surveywas to put down a marker from which future performance could bemonitored and measured.The survey took place between December 2005 and February2006, and responses were received from 25 firms of solicitors.We have compiled a database of the top 200 claims providersand will use this as the basis for future surveys, which will takeplace annually.• There are mixed views of how fair our offers of compensation are• Solicitors strongly disagree that we provide a prompt service• 84% of solicitors check MID within 10 days• Solicitors are aware of MIBLES but 50% do not use it• No firm rated the Bureau as excellent or good, when comparedwith other insurance companies in any of the categories• Solicitors are very dissatisfied with our level of proactivity.Not surprisingly, there is a marked difference between the expectationsof solicitors and perceptions of our service delivery.Changes since 2004delays. For example, on average medical reports were taking 161days to complete from instruction to the report being received.This has been reduced to 92 days.• Staffing is now at an appropriate level for the volume of claimsreceived and we will ensure it remains that wayOur plans will also include greater use of email and web-basedcommunication.Helpful and informative approach todealing with claim and claimant direct.2006 Survey ResultsIn broad terms the results are:• Solicitors' preferred method of communication is e-mail• There is general satisfaction with our communication, including thequality of our letters• Solicitors consider the claim form for uninsured and untracedagreements satisfactory.• Solicitors believe it is relatively important to receive police reportsbut less important to receive medical notes and reportsIn 2004, there were some 72,000 cases outstanding within theBureau. This has now reduced to below 58,000, a reduction ofsome 20% over the period. Similarly, the volume of work in progresshas reduced by almost 25%. We receive something in the order of60,000 claims per year and over the last two years we have settledmore claims than we have received, hence the reduction inoutstanding numbers.During the same period, we have increased claims handlingresources and have developed a training academy that has recentlyacquired Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) accreditation. There area number of other improvements, for example, a significant reductionin the average lifecycle of claims.IT'S BUSINESS AS USUAL• Solicitors are dissatisfied with how we deal with cases comingto the end of the limitation periodWhile there have been many internal changes to improve theefficiency of the Bureau, we are acutely aware that these arenot immediately obvious to our stakeholders.4 5

THE MAIL MUST GET THROUGHWith four full-time and two part-time all of which must be sent by recordedmembers of staff, the MIB post room is delivery. In addition, we send out 1,200a hive of activity from 7am until 4.30pm. MIIC letters and 2,000 letters to foreignbureaux and overseas insurers. More thanEvery day we process over 1,500 pieces 35,000 letters go through the frankingof mail, and around 50 recordedmachine and 21,000 are sent via theand special delivery items. Each piece of DX system.post is opened (where appropriate), datestamped, sorted and delivered to its The Royal Mail's latest initiative, ‘Pricingrecipient - by 10 am.in Proportion’, will make the post room'swork more complicated, but it shouldEvery month we print over 25,000 letters save a little on postage costs, and weand process more than 12,000 cheques. won't let it slow us down one bit!We also despatch over 15,000 itemswhich are collected from claims teams,Peter Dayincluding medical notes and x-rays,Post Room ManagerSUCCESSES AT THE CLAIMS TRAININGACADEMYSome time has passed since we launched ouraccredited claims academy (see Issue 9),so I thought I would offer a brief update.Shortly after we launched the claims academy,we were inundated with requests from ourclaims handlers to help plan their development.Those plans are now in place and people areworking through various study books andprogrammes. We have also had a lot of interestfrom our member insurers.It is pleasing to see that our claims academy isalready getting noticed outside the MIB.There has been very positive feedback fromclaims academy participants. The developmentplans that the training team put together foreach individual are proving extremely useful,providing a focus and structure for studyand career goals.I am delighted to announce that since thelaunch of the claims academy, we haveconducted seven module assessments andhad seven passes. With a required pass markof 80%, this is a fantastic reward for theparticipants' hard work.Now that everyone can see what can beachieved, I hope many more people will putthemselves forward for assessments.If anyone wishes to discuss the assessmentsor other claims academy matters, please donot hesitate to seek out a member of thetraining team.John O'LearyTraining and Development`Ashton West, CEO of MIB, with the first four successfulparticipants. From left to right: Ashton West, Byron Shepherd,John Waller. Seated: Larisa Bogle, Fran Burns (Clare Turnbulland Martin Dore have also recently passed).STAFF COMMITTEEUPDATEThe Staff Committee sits every 8 weeks and ismade up of 12 employees who have beennominated by MIB staff. Elections are held bysecret ballot. The committee hasa chairperson, vice-chairperson and asecretary.Now in its third year, the committee has dealtwith many issues raised by staff and theExecutive Management Team (EMT). Here arejust a few examples:• As a result of a number of staff raising thequestion of whether private healthcarecan be extended to all staff, the Bureaunow contributes £250 per year, per person.• The EMT agreed to provide telephoneheadsets for those that wanted them,without the need for a visit tooccupational health.• When the company updated our PCs,having the staff committee in place enabledIT to offer the old PCs to members of staff.The committee administered the distributionof the PCs.Some members of the Staff CommitteeHaving a Staff Committee is also a useful toolfor senior management to canvass staff opinionon issues, for example, mobile phone usagein the office and the ICAS CounsellingProgramme, which has remained in placedue to the positive feedback.The Staff Committee is now responsible for theMIB charity policy, together with organisingdress down days, which have raised £1,178.05for Willen Hospice and £1,237.91 for CancerResearch. The company will also be donating£1,000 to Childline later this year. This figurewill be supported by proceeds raised by afurther dress down day.The 2006 Committee: chairperson - Kris Raina,vice-chairperson - Stephanie Apps, secretary -Brendan Geary, members - Amy Mickley, DanielWylie, Donna Beck, Linda Carpenter, NadineSilverton, Phillipa Challinor, Rob McClaren,Sharon Smylie and Stephanie Pendle.MIB FINALLY WIN ITS FIRST CUP COMPETITIONDespite winning the Stewarts Events Group,Thursday League Division 1 six-a-sidetournament (last year), MIB has always failed towin a cup competition. On the 6 June 2006,MIB entered a team in the Milton KeynesRecruitment Tournament, which featuredvarious insurers, solicitors and brokers basedwithin the area.MIB showed its intent by winning the fourgroup games, so qualifying as winners andproceeding into the final stages of thetournament - a semi-final game against A PlanInsurance. Matso Maphalle netted most of theMIB goals despite being heavily marked by theopposition and Rob McClaren aka “The Rock”was solid at the heart of the MIB defence.Having started the semi-final game brightly andtaking an early lead, A Plan fought back welland scored 3 times to put them into the leadwith only 7 minutes left to play. However, MIBshowed excellent spirit putting enormouspressure on their opposition looking for thegoal to get them back into contention.With only 4 minutes remaining Kris Rainascored to make the score 3-2.With MIB flooding forward looking for theequaliser, A Plan broke away and had a “oneon one” with Kaushik Patel, the MIBgoalkeeper. Fortunately he saved well to keepMIB in the game. With the clock ticking downMohammed Hemani, with literally the last kickof the match, found the back of the net with astrong low drive into the bottom left handcorner to take the game into a penaltyshoot-out.Such was the quality of the penalty kicks,each team scored all their penaltiestwice, but eventually A Plan had apenalty saved by the veryimpressive Kaushikto win the tie for MIB.The final of the competitionwas MIB against AllianzCornhill. MIB was veryconfident, as they hadpreviously defeated Allianzin their group-qualifyingmatch. MIB started stronglyand within the first 10 minutestook a 3-0 lead.They controlled the game from there andran out comfortable 4-1 winners.It was an excellent effort by MIB from a smallsquad of players, in comparison to some of theother companies who fielded two teams.The golden boot award went to theoutstanding player of the evening, MatsoMaphalle.Kris RainaThe victorious MIB team6 7

LEGAL UPDATEINTERPRETATION OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACTGuy Miller v (1) Ricky Hales (2) QBEInternational Insurance Ltd (T/A EnsignMotor Policies at Lloyds) (3) MotorInsurers’ Bureau (2006) [Lawtel14/07/2006]This case involves an unusual set ofcircumstances concerning a policeconstable who was run over by his ownvehicle which was being driven by the firstdefendant after he had escaped custodyand taken possession of the police vehicle.The constable was in the process of tryingto get into the vehicle when the injuryoccurred. The second defendant'sargument was that the claimant's injurywas not one that fell to be dealt with underthe Road Traffic Act 1988, and concerns,in particular, the interpretation ofs.145(4)(a) of the act, which states:“The Policy [of insurance] shall not… berequired (a) to cover liability in respect ofthe death, arising out of and in the courseof his employment, of a person in theemployment of a person injured by thepolicy or of bodily injury sustained by sucha person arising out of and in the course ofhis employment”.The claimant, a police constable, appliedto the court for a declaration that thesecond defendant insurers were liableunder s.151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988to pay him whatever the first defendantmotorcyclist was liable to pay under thejudgment entered against the firstdefendant. The claimant had been involvedin the high-speed pursuit of a motorcycledriven by the first defendant. The claimantcaught Hales, who then escaped and ranback to the claimant's police car, whichhad been left with the keys in it and theengine running.Hales got into the car and locked thedoors. As the claimant tried to enter thevehicle via the tailgate, Hales reversed thecar violently. The claimant fell beneath thecar and was dragged some distancebefore he became free, having sufferedvery serious injuries. Under s.144(2)(b) ofthe Act, the requirement for road users tohold a policy of insurance did not apply tovehicles owned by a police authority anddriven for police purposes. However, theclaimant's constabulary had a motorvehicle policy with the second defendant(“Q”) although as Hales was not permittedto drive the vehicle his driving was notcovered by that policy.The court was asked to consider whethers.145(4)(a) of the Act had the effect that nocover was required, and therefore was notprovided, because the claimant was to betreated as acting in the course ofemployment when he was insured, and ifhe was to be so treated, whether he couldavoid the effect of that by bringing himselfwithin s.145(4)(a) of the Act as a personwho had entered into or been carried in orupon a vehicle.The court found that a police constablewas not an employee and had no contractof employment; he was an office holder. Inthose circumstances, and construing thestatute as it stood, 'employment' shouldnot be interpreted as covering the 'quasiemployment'of a constable.Accordingly, s.145(4)(a) did not assist theinsurers and if, as s.151 of the Actrequired, Hales was to be treated as aninsured, the insurer was liable under thepolicy. Further, on its proper construction,s.145(4a) of the Act was directed at aperson being carried in the normal wayas a passenger. On the facts of this case,however, what had happened to theclaimant could not be described in anyordinary sense as entering or attemptingto enter the vehicle, or being carried by it.Had the claimant's claim, therefore, fallenwithin s.145(4)(a) and so have fallenoutside the Act, he could not have reliedon s.145(4a) of the Act. The claimant'sinjuries were, accordingly, required to becovered by insurance pursuant to s.145 ofthe Act, and the insurer was obliged to paywhatever Hales was bound to pay underthe judgment entered against him.Greenwoods SolicitorsThe next issue of the MIB Newsletter will be a special one, concentrating on the Fit For Purpose (FFP) programme.For further information, please contact the editor -Sarah Irwin, Motor Insurers’ Bureau, Linford Wood House,6-12 Capital Drive, Milton Keynes MK14 6XT. Tel: 01908 830001Email: enquiries@mib.org.uk www.mib.org.uk