Alwyn leads six-strong cohort of Insurance DataLab’s Recommended Insurers

Assessing the strength of an insurer has never been straightforward.

Brokers routinely consider a wide range of factors when deciding where to place business – from claims performance and financial strength through to underwriting results, service and complaints.

The challenge is that those measures are often difficult to compare. They come from different sources, are reported on different bases and can sometimes tell very different stories about the same insurer. Sometimes the data might not even be available.

A business may have a strong capital position but weaker claims outcomes, while another may deliver impressive underwriting results without standing out on complaints or customer experience.

Looking at any one of those measures in isolation can therefore provide only a partial view.

That is why Insurance DataLab’s Insurer Performance Index has brought together four distinct pillars – claims, complaints, solvency and underwriting – into a single framework, giving brokers a more comprehensive view of both financial strength and customer outcomes.

And the latest Autumn update highlights just how important that broader assessment can be. Six insurers have achieved Insurance DataLab ’Recommended Insurer’ status, having combined a top-quartile overall Index Score with at least an amber rating across each of the four individual pillars.

To achieve Recommended Insurer status, strong performance in one area is not enough. The methodology is designed to identify insurers that perform strongly overall without significant weakness being masked by an exceptional result elsewhere.

Insurance DataLab co-founder Dan King explained: “There is a huge amount of information available to brokers when assessing insurers, but the difficulty is that it sits across different datasets and measures different things.

“The index is designed to bring those different perspectives together. Claims, complaints, solvency and underwriting all tell us something important, but you get a much more useful picture when you can look at them alongside one another.

“And for Recommended Insurer status, it is not enough simply to score very highly overall. We also want to see that there are no significant areas of weakness being hidden by one particularly strong result.”

Leading the pack

Alwyn retains its Recommended Insurer status and climbs to the top of the rankings after a particularly strong claims performance, with a score of 979 – second only to Sabre. This was supported by claims acceptance rates of more than 90% across all business lines, while fewer than 5% of claims resulted in a complaint.

Its underwriting score of 876 also places it firmly among the market’s leading performers after it reported a 79.3% combined operating ratio (COR) in its latest Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR). A complaints score of 835, meanwhile, is the third highest overall behind Sabre and AIG.

A solvency coverage ratio of 184% is comfortably above the regulatory threshold and broadly in line with the market average, meaning Alwyn achieves a green rating across all four pillars this Autumn.

Sabre’s strongest results once again come across claims and complaints, helping it to an overall Index Score of 792.

It receives the maximum possible claims score of 1,000, supported by a claims acceptance rate in excess of 95% and fewer than 5% of claims resulting in a complaint. Its complaints score of 854 is also among the market’s strongest, supported by favourable upheld-rate performance across both FCA and FOS data.

Underwriting is another area of strength, with a score of 790 after Sabre reported a COR of 82.7%. The insurer has also been recognised with an Insurance DataLab Underwriting Gold Award.

A solvency coverage ratio of 154% secures a green rating under the final pillar, making Sabre one of three insurers in this analysis to achieve green ratings across all four pillars.

Simplyhealth ranks third with an overall Index Score of 743, led by a market-leading solvency score of 969 after reporting a solvency coverage ratio of 470%.

The medical expenses specialist also performs strongly on claims, with a score of 790 supported by claims acceptance rates in the 90-95% band during 2025. Its complaints score of 630 includes fewer than one complaint per 1,000 policies sold.

Meanwhile, a COR of 97.6% in its latest SFCR represents a second consecutive year of underwriting profitability, earning Simplyhealth an underwriting score of 533.

Fourth overall, Hiscox is one of three insurers to achieve a green rating across all four pillars in this Autumn update, with claims and underwriting providing its strongest results.

The insurer receives an overall Index Score of 735, supported by a claims score of 910. Hiscox performs strongly across all of the claims measures used in the index and is one of only three insurers to have secured a gold award in both waves of the Insurance DataLab Commercial Lines Claims Pulse.

The insurer also receives a score of 822 for complaints, while a COR of 74.7% following five consecutive years of underwriting profitability contributes to an underwriting score of 870 and an Insurance DataLab Underwriting Gold Award.

A solvency coverage ratio of 136% remains comfortably above regulatory thresholds, earning Hiscox a green solvency rating.

The AA Group ranks fifth with an overall Index Score of 728 and one of the most evenly distributed sets of pillar scores among the six Recommended Insurers.

Claims is its strongest pillar at 767, supported by high levels of customer satisfaction with motor and home insurance claims. A complaints score of 751, meanwhile, is underpinned by low upheld rates across both FCA and FOS data.

A COR of 93.0% contributes to an underwriting score of 615, which remains comfortably within the level required to maintain Recommended Insurer status.

The insurer also reported a solvency coverage ratio of 213.5% in its latest SFCR, earning The AA Group a solvency score of 748.

Acromas completes the Autumn Recommended Insurers list with an overall Index Score of 706.

Solvency is its strongest pillar, with a score of 811 after the insurer reported a solvency coverage ratio of 224%.

The Gibraltarian insurer, which is part of the Ageas Group, also performs consistently across the remaining three pillars. Its claims score of 687 is supported by strong claims acceptance rates in motor and before-the-event legal expenses, although performance is moderated by a higher proportion of buildings insurance claims resulting in a complaint.

A COR of 85.4% contributes to an underwriting score of 684 after the insurer delivered underwriting profits in each of the last two years. A complaints score of 639 completes Acromas’s results for this Autumn update.

Why the wider view matters

For brokers, the value of bringing these different measures together extends beyond identifying the strongest performers.

Insurer selection has always involved judgement, but the evidence available to support those decisions has become both more extensive and more fragmented.

Claims, complaints, solvency and underwriting data are published through different sources, at different times and using different methodologies – while some measures are not available consistently across every insurer.

That can make it difficult to build a complete picture of how a provider is performing.

It is also increasingly important in the context of insurer oversight and product governance. Brokers need to be able to demonstrate not only why an insurer was selected in the first place, but that the provider continues to represent an appropriate destination for business and is delivering the outcomes expected for customers.

King said: “This is not about replacing broker judgement with an Index Score. Brokers know their clients, understand the risks they are placing and have first-hand experience of insurers in the market.

“What the data can do is strengthen that judgement by bringing together evidence that would otherwise sit in several different places. That becomes particularly useful when firms are reviewing insurer panels, carrying out product governance or evidencing why they continue to place business with a particular provider.”

This means that by assessing insurers through the same framework, brokers can identify where further scrutiny may be warranted, ask more informed questions of insurer partners and create a clearer evidence trail around placement and oversight decisions.

Demonstrating value to clients

The same evidence can also help brokers demonstrate the value of their advice to clients.

Price will inevitably remain an important part of any placement discussion, but the cheapest option will not always represent the most appropriate choice. Being able to evidence how an insurer performs across the metrics that matter most to customers gives brokers a stronger basis for explaining why one provider has been selected over another.

That can be particularly useful where a broker is recommending an insurer that is not the lowest-priced option. Rather than relying solely on experience or reputation, the decision can be supported by independent evidence around the insurer’s financial resilience, the outcomes it delivers for customers and the sustainability of its underwriting performance.

In that sense, insurer performance data can help make some of the work that brokers have traditionally carried out behind the scenes more visible to the client.

“A lot of the value a broker provides comes from knowing the market and understanding which insurers are going to be the right fit for a particular client, but the customer does not necessarily see all of the work that sits behind that recommendation,” King explained.

“If you can show that you have considered not just price, but how an insurer performs across the board, you have a much stronger way of demonstrating the value of that advice.”