With less than a week until the results of the Department for Work and Pensions' and the Office of Fair Trading's reviews of the employers' liability (EL) market are published, insurers remain unconvinced the crisis will improve.
A recent ABI survey of insurance chief executives found that 62% do not believe the reviews will lead to fundamental reform. Soaring premiums for EL cover have forced the government to launch the reviews.
ABI chairman Mike Ross said: "We don't ask for special treatment. Instead we want proportionate regulation and partnership with Government. There are limits to the ability of any industry to carry an ever-growing burden of regulation and to remain internationally competitive."
Meanwhile the Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF) is claiming that failure to overhaul the system would be a missed chance to reduce welfare costs.
Martin Temple, director-general of the Engineering Employers' Federation said: "The insurance industry needs to work more closely with business to ensure that premiums can be linked more effectively to individual business risk under the existing system most businesses are 'book rated' depending on their sector, with lower risk companies effectively subsidising higher risk companies in the same sector."
Several weekend reports have raised insurers' concerns that the review will not lead to the implementation of new measures. Many fear that the review is an interim report, which sets out a plan but no timetable.
