Litigation culture among insurers continues to grow as Insurance Act fails to stop insurers declining high value claims

London, April 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Insurance Act 2015 (IA15) has failed to stem the rise in insurance claims ending in court, with case volumes rising 180% in the 10 years since the Act was introduced, according to a report by insurance expert Mactavish. The report, released to mark the 10-year anniversary of the introduction of IA15, details how the insurance industry has responded to a series of crises: Covid, the war in Ukraine and the floods and fires brought by climate change by rejecting claims, forcing clients to seek redress through the courts.

Bruce Hepburn, CEO and founder of Mactavish, said: “The common denominator in too many cases is not around any of the technical aspects of the insurance claim such as disclosure or notification, it is about cost. To put it simply, the higher the claim, the more likely it is to be challenged.”

The view that insurers are treating higher value claims less favourably than those of a lower value is borne out in the slew of cases that flowed from the Covid lockdowns and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In both cases, claims amounting to billions of pounds were rejected by insurers only to be later approved by the courts.

As the graph above demonstrates Covid business interruption claims and Russian aviation war risk claims led to a spike in legal activity between 2022 and 2024. However, the underlying trend has remained constant with case volumes increasing throughout the 10 years leading up to the introduction of IA15 and the 10 years since the Act became law.

Mr Hepburn said: “Insurance claims end up in court for many reasons, some legitimate, others less so. Sometimes claims genuinely require judicial intervention, however all too often we see litigation being used as a point of leverage, a negotiating tool used to drive down the value of a settlement, rather than a legitimate means of resolving cases.”

IA15 was introduced in part to close legal loopholes which allowed insurers to decline claims on a technicality or without good reason. As the report sets out the new law has succeeded in some areas, such as clarifying what information should be shared with insurers during the underwriting process. In other areas it has failed, failing to speed up the claims process and doing little or nothing to improve the scourge of poorly written insurance contracts.

The Mactavish claims index measures changes in the volume of insurance litigation going through the High Court by tracking all legal filings at the High Court in England and Wales that relate to the insurance sector.

jamesoconnor@mactavishgroup.com / +44(0)207 046 7956

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