Lying on an insurance claim should not necessarily invalidate it, the Supreme Court has said, in a judgement likely to affect all household policies.
It said collateral lies – which are untrue, but do not affect the validity of the claim – can be acceptable. The BBC reports that the judges voted by four to one to change one of the important principles behind current insurance law.
The insurance industry called it a ‘blow for honest customers’, and warned that the price of policies could rise.
The case involved a Dutch cargo ship, which ran into difficulty after its engine room was flooded. The owners deliberately lied, by saying the crew couldn’t investigate an alarm, because the ship was rolling in heavy seas. In fact the accident was caused by bad weather, so the lie was irrelevant, the court ruled.
Kevin Pratt, consumer affairs expert, MoneySuperMarket, said: ‘Today’s landmark judgment by the Supreme Court in the case of Versloot Dredging v HDI Gerling overturns centuries of insurance practice – and is great news for honest insurance customers. It’s not a cheat’s charter, and it’s not a blank cheque for would-be fraudsters. But it does mean that insurers will not be able to throw out perfectly valid claims on little more than a technicality.’
Comparison sites
The competition watchdog’s plan to let price comparison websites ‘hide’ energy deals that don’t earn them commission should be rejected because it will erode consumer trust, MPs have warned.
The CMA’s landmark two-year inquiry into the sector concluded that price comparison websites should no longer be obliged to show customers all tariffs in the market, and should be free to choose which deals they display.
The Telegraph reports that MPs on the energy and climate change committee claim the changes could ‘undermine consumer trust and disadvantage smaller suppliers, harming competition’.
In a letter to Greg Clark, the new business and energy secretary, committee chairman Angus MacNeil urges him to reject the ‘retrograde step’ of allowing sites to ‘conceal deals that do not earn them commission’.
Brexit
Britain’s businesses have taken the Brexit vote in their stride and there are no signs of a sharp economic slowdown, the Bank of England said.
In its first assessment of the impact of the European Union referendum on June 23, the Bank said that most companies were adopting a ‘business-as-usual’ approach and were not cutting back on either investment or hiring.
The monthly economic health check said that there was ‘no clear evidence’ of a slowdown in business activity or lending by banks to companies.
Meanwhile, The Times reports that the number of people in work hit a record high before the referendum, with 31.7 million Britons having a job in the first half of the year. Employment hit 74.4 per cent in the three months to May, the highest level since records began 45 years ago.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the labour market was in robust health the month before Brexit, with vacancies holding steady at 747,000 even after a 176,000 increase in employment over the three months, suggesting that hiring intentions were strong.
But the UK Commercial property market has seen a significant drop in confidence and investor demand following the Brexit vote, according to the Q2 2016 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey. Both the investment and occupier sides of the market have been affected by the change in sentiment and both rent and capital value expectations are now in negative territory.
Although opinions are mixed, the largest share of respondents across the UK (36 per cent) feel the market is now in the early stages of a downturn. All parts of the UK saw an increase in the proportion of contributors sensing the market is turning down. London exhibits the highest proportion, with 54 per cent of respondents taking this view.
Universal credit
The Guardian reports that the Government’s universal credit scheme has once again slipped behind schedule and will now not be completed until 2022, five years behind its original projected finish date, officials have admitted.
Critics said the latest rescheduling – which adds 12 months to the last published planned completion date and is the seventh reset since 2013 – raised the question of whether the much-criticised welfare programme was fit for purpose.
Retirement
Ten per cent of women in the UK are on track for the retirement income they aspire to have according to new research from Aegon UK. While this has doubled since April 2015, it remains below the male average of 14 per cent, highlighting that women, despite narrowing the gap, still have a long way to go to reach the same retirement readiness as their male counterparts.
In April 2015, the Government introduced new pension rules which give people with defined contribution pensions new opportunities to access their pension savings and use this money in the way they choose from age 55. As a direct result of these new freedoms, women are saving 14 per cent more into their pension and 16 per cent of men are contributing more to their pension pots. Other initiatives such as workplace auto-enrolment may also have helped fuel this 5 per cent increase in the number of women who are on track for the retirement they want.
Energy bills
The cost of household energy is on the rise again in the UK after a series of providers withdrew their best deals and introduced new, more expensive tariffs, in response to increasing wholesale energy prices and Brexit uncertainty, according to Gocompare.com.
The last three years have seen a period of generally falling wholesale energy prices, which led to a highly competitive price war in the domestic market, fuelled by dozens of new entrants keen to take on the so called ‘big six’.
Best buy 12 month duel fuel fixed tariffs tumbled below £1,000 a year and all the way down below £740 in 2016. But all that seems set to change as providers start announcing more expensive deals.
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