CII policy briefing: Insurance Fraud Taskforce final report

On 18 January, HM Treasury published the final report of its Insurance Fraud Task Force, chaired by former Law Commissioner David Hertzell. Insurance fraud is a serious issue, which has been estimated to cost policyholders up to £50 each per year, and the country more than £3 billion, not to mention time spent by the legal and medical services in dealing with these cases.

The task force explores relevant issues including the scale and impact, regulators and legal frameworks and what has already been done to tackle fraud, before making a range of targeted recommendations that aim to:

• Tackle fraudulent activity.
• Improve consumer trust in the insurance sector and raise the public profile of insurance fraud as a criminal activity;
• Encourage greater use of data sharing and collaboration between the insurance sector and regulatory bodies.
• Reflect and support the government's intentions to clamp down on unnecessary whiplash claims and strengthen regulation of claims management companies.

This CII briefing provides a summary of the detailed findings and recommendations of the Insurance Fraud Task Force looking into insurance and claims fraud.