Abstract
Overview
Introduction
The UK employers' liability market saw profitability deteriorate in 2007 as the soft cycle took its toll on many competitors. This report provides forecasts for GWP and profitability up to 2012 under two different scenarios, making it a crucial read for those with an interest in employers' liability insurance.
Scope
- The report offers a comprehensive analysis of competitive issues within the employers' liability market
- Sizes the employers' liability market providing competitors' GWP, market share and claims ratios data
- Forecasts GWP growth up to and including 2012 based on Datamonitor' s in-house expertise and interviews with senior industry executives
Report Highlights
Premium income fell by a further 6.9% to £1.8 billion in 2007 as insurers continued to decrease their prices amidst strong competitive elements remaining in the market.
The market share of the top 10 employers' liability insurers fell marginally by 0.2 percentage points in 2006 to 61.6% as a result of some top 10 employers' liability insurers seeing their premium income fall.
Brokers remain the dominant distribution channel for commercial insurance to SMEs, with 76% of respondents to Datamonitor' s SME survey in Q1 2007 saying that they bought their insurance from a broker. This places the broker channel well ahead of the only other significant channel, direct insurers, which accounted for 19% of respondents.
Reasons to Purchase
- Gain insight into key market issues and trends in the employers' liability market
- Benchmark your company against your competitors based on current and past performances in the market.
- Develop your future business plans from an informed viewpoint with Datamonitor' s GWP forecast
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Catalyst
- Summary
- Executive Summary
- The employers' liability market remained dominated by competitive
pricing in 2006 and 2007, leading to unprofitable market conditions and a
fall in GWP
- The employers' liability market declined by 7.4% in 2006 as strong competitive conditions led to price decreases
- SMEs buy insurance mainly through brokers and long-term relationships
are the norm
- Most SMEs buy insurance via brokers, but direct insurers also distribute a significant part of the market
- The market share of the top 10 employers' liability insurers decreased
marginally in 2006
- The top 10 employers' liability insurers accounted for 61.6% of the market in 2006
- Future GWP growth is influenced chiefly by premium rate movements which
are estimated to have decreased in 2007
- Insurers gave a range of estimates for premium rate changes in 2009 and 2010
- The employers' liability market is forecast to achieve a CAGR of 5.4% between 2007 and 2012 under neutral conditions
- The employers' liability market remained dominated by competitive
pricing in 2006 and 2007, leading to unprofitable market conditions and a
fall in GWP
- Table of Contents
- Table of figures
- Table of tables
- Market Context
- Introduction
- The employers' liability market remained dominated by competitive
pricing in 2006 and 2007, leading to unprofitable market conditions and a
fall in GWP
- The employers' liability market declined by 7.4% in 2006 as strong competitive conditions led to price decreases
- The market recorded a dramatic loss in 2006 after costs rose
significantly
- Decreased NWP and increased outgoings both contributed to a plummeting underwriting result in 2006
- Commissions and expenses rose to £585m in 2006
- Change in provisions failed to secure an underwriting profit in 2006
- The cost of employers' liability claims increased in 2006 as a result of
the erratic nature of the employers' liability claims environment
- The cost of employers' liability claims increased by 61.5% in 2006
- The number of employers' liability claims fell to a five-year low in 2006/7
- The British Coal scheme has cost £3.4 billion so far, although the
majority of payments are for minor amounts
- The British Coal scheme is expected to cost £7 billion when all claims have been settled
- The majority of compensation offers to claimants for respiratory disease are below £5,000
- Incidents of workplace accidents and work related ill-health were
reduced in 2006/7
- The total number of non-fatal workplace injuries fell in 2006/7
- The number of workplace injuries, as reportable under RIDDOR, excluding acts of violence decreased by 4.6 % in 2006/7
- Workplace fatalities increased in 2006/7
- The total number of workplace injuries was estimated to be 313,685 in 2006/7
- Total work-related ill-health decreased in 2006
- NHS claw-back, changes to legislation on asbestos claims and indexation
will increase future claims bills
- The NHS claw-back scheme has only had a limited affect on the market so far
- The House of Lords ruled against pleural plaques compensation in 2007
- Changes in claims indexation for periodical payments are likely to have an impact on larger personal injury claims
- Distribution Dynamics
- Introduction
- Brokers continued to dominate the distribution of commercial insurance
- National brokers have lost distribution market share to the direct channel, chain brokers and telebrokers
- The direct channel increased its share of commercial insurance GWP by 1% in 2006
- Affinity groups remain a small channel for the distribution of commercial insurance
- Banks and building societies continue to play a small role in the distribution of commercial insurance
- SMEs buy insurance mainly through brokers and long-term relationships
are the norm
- Most SMEs buy insurance via brokers, but direct insurers also distribute a significant part of the market
- Brokers remain the top choice for SMEs to approach if they had to switch provider
- Many SMEs are willing to consider alternative channels when prompted
- Up to 44% of SMEs would consider using a bank as an insurance provider
- Almost three quarters of SMEs would be willing to consider direct insurers, in the hope of cost savings
- National brokers represent the greatest threat to commercial brokers in the second half of 2007
- Commercial liability products are the least at risk to the direct channel and likely to remain brokered
- Over half of SMEs would buy their employers' liability insurance policies via the telephone or internet
- Competitive Dynamics
- Introduction
- The number of new entrants was limited in 2007 with only a few new
insurers entering the market
- A new underwriting agency, Arista entered the employers' liability market in 2007
- Howden expanded into the employers' liability market in 2007
- QBE and Primary General launched products to target the SME market in 2007
- The market share of the top 10 employers' liability insurers decreased
marginally in 2006
- The top 10 employers' liability insurers accounted for 61.6% of the market in 2006
- Three of the top 10 players saw their market shares remain flat in 2006
- Norwich Union, AXA, ACE and QBE increased their market share in 2006
- Norwich Union saw its market share increase by two percentage points in 2006
- QBE, AXA and ACE saw their market shares increase marginally in 2006
- Zurich, Allianz and Aspen saw their market shares decrease in 2006
- Zurich saw its market share decrease by two percentage points in 2006
- Allianz and Aspen saw their market shares decrease marginally in 2006
- The average gross claims ratio fell in 2006 after five of the top 10
employers' liability insurers saw their ratios improve
- The average gross claims ratio for the top 10 fell to 72.7% in 2006
- Five of the top 10 employers' liability insurers saw their ratios improve in 2006
- Four of the top 10 employers' liability insurers saw their gross claims ratios deteriorate in 2006
- Future Decoded
- Introduction
- Future GWP growth is influenced chiefly by premium rate movements which
are estimated to have decreased in 2007
- Insurers gave a range of estimates for premium rate changes in 2009 and 2010
- A number of factors will influence future GWP growth in the employers' liability market
- Under the neutral scenario, employers' liability GWP is forecast to
reach £2.3 billion by 2012
- The competitive pricing continues to moderate future GWP growth in the neutral scenario
- The employers' liability market is forecast to achieve a CAGR of 5.4% between 2007 and 2012
- The employers' liability market is forecast to remain unprofitable between 2007 and 2012
- Under more optimistic conditions, the employers' liability market is
forecast to reach £2.7 billion
- In the optimistic scenario, the market will harden in 2009 as competitive conditions relax
- GWP is forecast to grow by 8.4 % on a compound average growth rate between 2007 and 2012
- Profitability will improve in the market with combined ratios decreasing between 2009 and 2012
- Appendix
- Supplementary data
- Performance ratios
- Definitions
- Premium income measures
- Earned premiums
- Gross premium
- Net premium
- Written premiums
- Distribution
- Direct
- Other company agents
- Utilities/retailers/affinity groups
- Company staff
- Banks/building societies
- Definitions of general terms
- Channel
- Platform
- Employers liability (including the employers liability part of mixed liability packages but excluding mixed commercial packages)
- Pre-2005 definitions for lines of business
- General liability
- 2005 FSA Return changes
- Premium income measures
- Methodology
- Market size methodology
- Lloyd' s players and underwriting result figures
- Lloyd' s market data
- Employers' liability claims data
- Ratio analysis methodology
- Accuracy of figures
- Datamonitor' s Commercial Broker Survey
- Datamonitor' s SME Insurance Survey Q1 2007
- Competitor data
- GWP versus GEP reporting
- Home-Foreign, overseas and facultative reinsurance business
- Further reading
- Ask the analyst
- Datamonitor consulting
- Disclaimer
- List of Tables
- Table 1: UK employers' liability insurance GWP, 2003−07e (£m)
- Table 2: UK employers' liability detailed underwriting result, 2002−06 (£m)
- Table 3: UK employers' liability gross claims incurred, 2002−06 (£m)
- Table 4: Number of employers' liability personal injury claims split by accident and disease, 2002/3−2006/7
- Table 5: Number of claims made to the DTI and total compensation paid for respiratory disease and vibration white finger under the British Coal scheme as of March 2, 2008
- Table 6: Profile of offers made by BERR to claimants for respiratory disease under the British Coal Scheme, up to 31st December 2007
- Table 7: Workplace injuries reportable under RIDDOR, 2002/3−2006/7p
- Table 8: Workplace injuries reportable under RIDDOR, excluding acts of violence, 2002/3−2006/7p
- Table 9: Workplace fatalities reported under RIDDOR, 2002/3−2006/7p
- Table 9: Total estimated workplace injuries reportable to the HSE, 2002/3−2006/7p
- Table 11: Number of cases of occupational disease and work related mental ill-health, 2002−06p
- Table 11: ASHE 6115 and RPI inflation, 1998−2007 (%)
- Table 12: Market share of distribution channels in the commercial general insurance market, 2003-06
- Table 13: Q: "What level of threat do the following distribution channels pose to you?"
- Table 14: Market share split by market leader, top 10 and rest of the market, 2005−6
- Table 15: Employers' liability market share by competitor, 2002−06 (%)
- Table 16: Employers' liability premium income by competitor, 2002−06 (£000s)
- Table 17: Gross claims ratio of top 10 employers' liability insurers, 2002−06
- Table 18: Key variables affecting employers' liability insurance GWP, 2007e-12f
- Table 19: Employers' liability GWP forecast, neutral scenario , 2002−12f (£m)
- Table 20: Employers' liability forecast for GWP, gross claims, gross loss ratio, net expense ratio and combined ratio, neutral scenario, 2002−12f (£m)
- Table 21: Employers' liability GWP forecast, optimistic scenario, 2002−12f (£m)
- Table 22: Employers' liability forecast for GWP, gross claims, gross loss ratio, net expense ratio and combined ratio, optimistic scenario, 2002−12f
- Table 23: Employers' liability premium income by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 24: Employers' liability market share by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 25: Commercial liability competitors by loss ratio, 2002−06
- Table 26: Commercial liability expense ratio by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 27: Commercial liability combined ratio by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 28: Commercial liability commission ratio by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 29: Commercial liability management expense ratio by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 30: Commercial liability net gross premium ratio by competitor, 2002−06
- Table 31: Q: "What business sector are you involved in?"
- Table 32: Q: "How large is your company in terms of number of employees?"
- Table 33: Q: "How large is your company in terms of turnover?"
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: The market share of the market leader fell in 2006
- Figure 2: Premium income is estimated to have fallen by an annual average of 5% between 2003 and 2007
- Figure 3: The employers' liability market incurred a loss in 2006
- Figure 4: Total gross claims soared to £2 billion in 2006
- Figure 5: Disease claims in the employers' liability market have fallen dramatically since 2002/3
- Figure 6: Claims above the value of £100,000 represented the smallest proportion of claims paid in 2007
- Figure 7: The number of workplace fatalities increased in 2006/7
- Figure 8: The number of work related illnesses decreased in 2006
- Figure 9: Annual inflation using the ASHE6115 index is on average 2.6 percentage points higher than RPI
- Figure 10: National brokers dominate the distribution of commercial general insurance in the UK in terms of GWP
- Figure 11: The distribution of insurance to SMEs remained largely under the control of brokers in 2007
- Figure 12: SMEs have become more likely to consider direct insurers if they were to change provider
- Figure 13: The prospect of cheaper premiums is the primary reason given for being willing to consider using a bank as an insurance provider
- Figure 14: Price is the top reason given by SMEs that would consider switching to a direct insurer
- Figure 15: National brokers remain the largest threat to the majority of survey respondents
- Figure 16: Commercial motor is the line of business most at risk to the direct channel
- Figure 17: Over half of SMEs would consider buying commercial motor, property and employers' liability online or via the telephone
- Figure 18: The market share of the market leader fell in 2006
- Figure 19: Zurich remained the market leader in 2006 despite a decrease in its market share
- Figure 20: Three insurers achieved gross claims ratios below 60% in 2006
- Figure 21: The market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% between 2002 and 2012
- Figure 22: Under the neutral scenario the gross claims ratio in the employers liability market is expected to reach 135.8% by 2012
- Figure 23: The UK employers' liability is forecast to reach £2.7 billion in 2012 under less competitive conditions
- Figure 24: The combined ratio is expected to decrease to 121.4% by 2012 under the optimistic scenario
- Supplementary data
