In its 2017 Report, the Cost of Insurance Working Group recommended that the feasibility of a longer-term claim-by-claim register be considered as part of efforts to increase transparency around the impact of claims costs on premiums. In response to that the Department of Finance is now consulting on a proposal to establish a claim-by-claim register. This register would be in addition to the National Claims Information Database (NCID).
One potential benefit of a claim-by-claim database is that it could replace the fraud database that is currently being implemented by the Department of Justice and Equality. Thus instead of having two separate registers (the NCID and the fraud database) there would just be one overall register. However, the claim-by-claim database raises significant data protection issues and the cost of it could also have unintended consequences for policyholders such as increasing insurance premiums.
The Department of Finance has asked stakeholders to answer ten specific questions to assist the working group in assessing the feasibility of a claim-by-claim register. The consultation period, which opened on 14 May will run until 22 June 2018.
The Department of Finance's consultation paper is here.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
