UK Household Business Working Party

Document description

This paper follows on from that presented at the October 1997 GISG conference in Blackpool, and concentrates in detail on three subject areas. The first section provides a review of the experience of UK household insurance business over the last 12 months. This year has, in particular, seen some exceptional weather events - 2 significant windstorms over Christmas and the New Year, the Selsey tornado on 7th January 1998 and severe river flooding following exceptional rainfall on 9th April 1998. These events, whilst not truly catastrophic in terms of the associated insured losses, have provided a timely reminder to senior management of the potential volatility of household business results, and of the need to fully understand and manage their companies' natural perils exposures. In common with other business classes, legal developments in relation to personal injury losses have cast a spotlight on household liability coverage, for many years considered to be a virtually cost-free element of coverage under both buildings and contents covers. The results of an investigation into the perceived worsening trend in very large household liability losses are presented.