Insurance-related court actions in England and Wales have risen sharply in the decade since the Insurance Act 2015 (IA15) came into force, with case volumes up around 180%, according to analysis by specialist consultancy Mactavish.
In a report marking the Act’s 10-year anniversary, Mactavish concluded that IA15 has not prevented an increasingly litigious claims environment, particularly for high-value losses. Its claims index, which tracks insurance-related filings in the High Court in England and Wales, showed a steady upward trend both before and after the Act’s implementation in August 2016.
"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," said Bruce Hepburn, CEO and founder of Mactavish. "To put it simply, the higher the claim, the more likely it is to be challenged."
Mactavish linked recent spikes in litigation to three major stress events for the market: the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate-related catastrophe losses. The report noted that business interruption disputes arising from COVID lockdowns and Russian aviation war risk claims produced a marked increase in case volumes between 2022 and 2024.
The firm's index has previously highlighted a record number of commercial insurance lawsuits reaching the High Court in 2022, reflecting a harder rating environment and more aggressive coverage positions on complex claims. High-profile cases have involved claims running into the billions and required clarification from the higher courts before substantial payments were made.
“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,” the report said.
Earlier research by Mactavish suggested that a significant proportion of large UK commercial claims are disputed and can take several years to resolve, with ultimate settlements often falling well below initial expectations. That experience, combined with the increasing concentration of panel law firms acting for insurers, has raised concerns among risk managers and brokers about the balance of power when major losses crystallise.
The consultancy’s latest figures indicate that the overall direction of travel has not changed materially since IA15 took effect.
“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," Hepburn said.
IA15 was promoted as the most significant modernisation of UK commercial insurance law in more than a century, updating aspects of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 and introducing a new duty of “fair presentation” for non‑consumer insurance. Among other measures, it was designed to restrict insurers’ ability to avoid claims for innocent non‑disclosure or misrepresentation and to replace some of the more draconian remedies available under the previous regime.
According to Mactavish, the Act has met some of its objectives. The report noted that the fair presentation provisions have helped clarify what information should be shared with insurers at placement and reduced the scope for declinatures on narrow technical disclosure grounds.
However, the consultancy argued that IA15 has done little to accelerate the claims process or to tackle persistent issues with policy drafting. Many commercial wordings are still described as overly complex, inconsistent and vulnerable to competing interpretations when tested in court. While the Act has changed the legal framework for some disputes, it has not altered the underlying commercial dynamics that drive contentious high‑value claims, the report said.
While some disputes will always require judicial determination, the steady rise in litigation a decade after IA15 suggests that the industry still has work to do in resolving complex claims earlier and more consistently, without defaulting to the courts as a primary mechanism for settling high‑value losses.
