Busy claims year drives demand for risk professionals in London insurance market

Vacancies for risk professionals in insurance companies are on the rise as the sector battles yet another busy claims year, which has resulted in a buoyant hiring market.

According to the latest UK insurance labour market report by Harrison Holgate and Vacancysoft, the claim departments of the insurers are still growing.

The report noted that out of the 370,000 UK business interruption claims, only 43,027 were paid out, leading to a backlog of processing. It is worth noting that several BI claims have been going through the English court system over issues from the FCA test case.

The report highlighted that the big uptick in vacancies has been in the capital as London saw a 22.3 per cent increase year on year. In terms of relative share, it has risen from constituting 53 per cent in 2022 to 63.7 per cent.

In the areas that are leading the recruitment within risk roles, it is non-life insurers as available roles were up by 18.3 per cent. This was followed by general insurance at 9.2 per cent, and in life insurance, volumes increased by 8.1 per cent.

However, it is not surprising that general insurance remains the biggest sector for risk vacancies, accounting for 61.9 per cent of vacancies this year. The surge in non-life insurance has seen its share increase, rising from 25.8 per cent last year to 27.3 per cent this year.

Looking at the companies, the report highlights that Durham-based Auxilis stood out as it had 350 claims vacancies in 2023, marking a 40 per cent increase from 2022.

While Direct Line recorded the largest year-on-year increase across the top ten insurers as vacancies went up by 147.5 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

However, as the report noted, this needs to be viewed in the context of Direct Line’s financial issues after the insurer posted an annual operating loss of £189.5m for 2023 as it battled claims inflation.

Among the top ten insurance companies, only AXA experienced a decrease in its vacancies over the last year, as job spots dropped by 2.3 per cent from 2022.

Commenting on the data, Matthew Waters, managing director of Harrison Holgate, said: “The insurance industry is going through a period of change, and economic forces are increasingly a factor. With that, for the London insurance industry, risk mitigation is becoming a priority.”