Ashworth Mairs Group and The Claims People have ousted Miller Pycraft and Woodgate and Clark from Norwich Union's reformed loss adjusting panels for general insurance claims.

Miller Pycraft and Woodgate and Clark were previously part of CGU's loss adjusting panel and will cease to receive new instructions when the reformed panels begin on July 1.

They will continue to handle existing claims on a run-off basis until the end of the year.

Another former CGU panellist, GAB Robins, is also believed to have lost out in terms of its future amount of workload. Chief executive Clive Nicholls said: “It (the contract) is less rather than more work and, in the event, we are clearly disappointed.” But he said his company had gained a number of large contracts last year, including deals with Axa and Churchill.

Norwich Union (NU) approached 14 loss adjusting companies in March to pitch for places on its four new panels for household, commercial, major loss and major subsidence, covering 95% of its outsourced claims work.

The insurer used customer satisfaction, internal efficiency and specialisms as criteria to select the six winning firms.

Greg Gladwell, director of claims integration, who is managing the merger of CGU's and NU's former claims divisions, said: “The adjusting industry put forward some high quality presentations,” but added: “The best stood out head and shoulders above the remainder.”

Ashworth Mairs Group has recently picked up a number of claims handling contracts, including Churchill and Nationwide.

The Claims People, launched last year, offers field adjusting and online desktop claims handling services. It raised £1.8m on the Alternative Investment Market last October. Its directors include former Miller Pycraft staff and it operates with a direct staff of 22 loss adjusters, although it can call on an additional 20 associates.

Chief executive Barry Whyte outlined his company's approach: “We're not just reinventing the wheel in terms of loss adjusting. We're combining professional loss adjusting skills with a web-based tracking system for claims that enables us to operate on a cost-effective basis.”

Cunningham Lindsey won places on three of the four panels announced by NU. Chief executive Gerry Loughney said: “We're happy that the close working relationship we've developed on home claims is to continue and particularly pleased that the specialist adjusting network has been selected to act on large losses.”


Topics