Speeches

Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the average annual household insurance premiums paid by (a) existing customers and (b) new customers in each of the last five years.

Simon Kirby

The Government does not hold information on average annual household and motor insurance premiums. There are a range of estimates of the cost of insurance published by industry, including the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the AA and Confused.com. The ABI’s data is available at: https://www.abi.org.uk/News/Industry-data-updates.

The Government encourages consumers to shop around for the most suitable cover at the best price. To this end, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published rules and guidance requiring insurers to disclose the previous year’s premium on renewal notices for general insurance products including motor and home insurance. The measures also require insurers to identify consumers who will be renewing with them for the fourth consecutive time and give them a prescribed shopping around message. The rules will come into force in April 2017.