Consumer Duty should lead to more proactive referrals for added-value support, says RedArc, the nurse-led health and wellbeing service.
The wealth of support that’s added to many insurance policies – including for critical illness, mental health and bereavement – all help to meet the requirements of Consumer Duty in ensuring the right outcomes for those in need of support. However, when clients are left to self-refer, this may present some challenges.
Christine Husbands, commercial director, RedArc, says: ‘When a client is faced with a long list of potential support available to them – often at a time when they’re vulnerable – they don’t know where to start. When they self-refer, they self-navigate, and they don’t always fully understand what support entails or what is most appropriate, and this can lead to gaps in the support they should receive.
‘By far the better option is proactive referral, at point of claim, where we have the opportunity to triage a client, and give them all the support that’s most appropriate for them.’
Clients are entitled to the support that’s offered, and it’s vital that they can utilise it. That means it needs to be made as easy as possible for them to access.
Proactive-referral, leading to an assessment of the client’s needs, followed by the provision of the most appropriate support, is more likely to lead to better outcomes, as intended by Consumer Duty, hence RedArc predicts an increase.