OPINION: Why Which? is launching a super-complaint over insurance market failings
Originally published in City A.M. 23 September 2025. Permission to publish all opinion pieces authored by Rocio Concha, sought and granted on 10 August 2023.
When a washing machine broke and caused a small fire in Dean and Kaja Cordwell’s house in South Wales in January 2024, they could have never foreseen that some eighteen months later, they and their two young children would still be in rented accommodation and locked in dispute with their insurer, LV.
While LV were initially supportive, the Cordwells claim that things quickly deteriorated. Two sets of builders have been enlisted to carry out renovations, but disputes persist about what work needs to be done and how much it might cost. LV’s cash settlement offer for works was around half of the value an independent assessor the Cordwells hired estimated. Dean and Kaja say they have felt gaslit by LV throughout the process.
An extreme case and an anomaly in an otherwise well-functioning market? Not quite. Which? has been contacted by hundreds of people who’ve suffered ordeals at the hands of their insurers. Consider the case of Claire Massey, from Stoke-on-Trent, who after a fire gutted her house says that dealing with her insurer has been far more stressful than the fire itself.
Insurance isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ or luxury product, but an essential purchase for tens of millions of people. We hope never to use it. But for too long, poor standards have been tolerated - both by the industry and the regulator in charge of it, the Financial Conduct Authority.
It’s for these reasons and many more that Which? has today taken the extraordinary step of using its statutory powers to launch a super-complaint to the regulator over our concerns about home and travel insurance market failings.
Over the past year, we have embarked on one of the most detailed research projects in its 68-year history, seeking to demystify this notoriously complex market and understand the issues consumers were facing.
Analysis of the FCA’s own data found fewer than two-thirds of buildings claims are being accepted, with one major firm accepting just a third of claims. We also found that over half (54%) of all people making a home or travel insurance claim experienced at least one problem in their claim journey. Perhaps most worryingly, half (51%) of consumers surveyed who were severely impacted by the incident that led to their claim said their home or travel insurer’s actions negatively impacted their mental health.
There are many binding rules and laws that should prevent this behaviour and the FCA has a duty to enforce them. Indeed the regulator has formally reviewed home and travel insurance claims-handling twice in recent history - in 2014 and earlier this year. However, despite both reviews uncovering significant failings, not to mention additional reviews with related findings, the FCA has taken little meaningful action for the many issues that exist in the markets.
Some may say that, given the government’s push for economic growth and the responsibility it is placing on regulators to deliver it, that this is the wrong time to make such an intervention and burden the FCA with extra work that detracts from that mission. That would be misguided. Strong consumer protections go hand-in-hand with a thriving economy, giving consumers the confidence to spend their money without fearing they will get ripped off.
Which? believes this adds up to a pattern of consistent failure by the regulator to meet its statutory objective to secure “an appropriate degree of protection for consumers”. The consumer champion is launching a super-complaint now, which includes new evidence, because consumers can not afford to wait any longer for action to fix home and travel insurance.
There’s no silver bullet that will fix such a broadly broken market, but the FCA can seize the opportunity this super-complaint provides by urgently taking action against firms that are currently breaching the rules and committing to a thorough investigation of the problems Which? has identified. Then the government and the FCA should work together to review the UK’s consumer insurance protection legal frameworks to identify key areas where these need strengthening.
This moment must be a turning point that leads to a fundamental reset in how insurance companies design and sell policies, communicate with customers and handle claims. If that can be achieved, the insurance industry could once again be viewed by consumers as part of the solution when things go wrong, instead of the problem.