about this issue of ombudsman news

‘We hope this will provide a helpful source of reference and that our views will feed directly into firms’ own complaint-handling.’

Every three months, ombudsman news will focus on the work of the insurance division, replacing the quarterly Bulletins formerly published by the Insurance Ombudsman Bureau. We will review our work dealing with general insurance matters over the preceding quarter and report on some of the major themes that have emerged. We hope this will provide a helpful source of reference and that our views will feed directly into firms' own complaint-handling.

This first issue is unusual in that it looks back over eight months rather than three. During this time, we have investigated over 5,000 cases and responded to tens of thousands of customer enquiries.

We focus on exclusion clauses and set out where we currently stand on this and other issues which have caused particular concern to insurers and policyholders in recent months. We also give some recent case studies.

Our report reflects the work of all in the Financial Ombudsman Service who have contributed to resolving general insurance disputes. However, particular thanks go to Reidy Flynn, Alan Freedman and Brigitte Philbey for editing the contents. Together with my fellow ombudsmen in the insurance division, Reidy Flynn, Michael Lovegrove and Steve Lilley, I hope you will find this an interesting and useful publication. We welcome your comments.