Modern Insurance Magazine - Carpenters Group Supplement

Our next steps and how we intend to continue to thrive and grow

Our next steps and how we intend to continue to thrive and grow

right people. right skills. right technology.

www.carpentersgroup.co.uk

EN D-TO-E N D COM P L E TE C L AI MS & L EG AL SO L U T I O N

Welcome

After undergoing a re-brand, Carpenters Group, leading providers of insurance and legal services, have joined forces with Modern Insurance Magazine to create a bespoke supplement all about their next steps and how they are planning on continuing to thrive and grow within the industry. Adaptable and sustainable services are vitally important for the insurance industry at the moment as it undergoes a range of challenges and changes. The re-brand of Carpenters Group has been made and built upon a customer focused service for insurers, brokers and their clients. The diversity of Carpenter’s offering as a group only cements their image of a sustainable business. The Executive Board lead the supplement with a cover interview about their new profile and how Carpenters Group has evolved over the years. You can ‘Meet the Team’ and learn more about their roles within the company on page eight.

Donna Richards, CEO, discusses Carpenters Group’s company culture and how this has influenced the company’s growth and progression, as well as how important it is to invest within your people. Karen Campbell, Chief information Officer, and Sam Nicholson, Head of Insurance Services, outlines Carpenters Group’s range of Insurance Solutions Services and how they going to banish the negative perceptions associated with claims management in the insurance industry.

The intention of the proposed reforms and the increased involvement of CMCs is a hot topic both for Alan Hayes, Chief Legal Officer, and Donna Scully, Director. Alan Hayes also outlines Carpenters Group’s legal services offering and how technology is

influencing client expectations. Donna Scully focuses more on CMCs and how we should be preparing for the opening of the floodgates.

The supplement also highlights the choices throughout the digital customer journey. As technology continues to evolve and change the face of the insurance industry, technology needs to be used in a smarter way in order to assist and improve the customer journey as well as provide extra support for businesses. ‘The customer is key’ provides examples from professionals in the industry about their experience with Carpenters Group – and to note that they are all very positive! Calum MacGregor, Head of Scottish Operations, stresses Carpenters Group's growth with the move of Scotland’s headquarters, setting Carpenters Group up for even more development. We end our supplement with a case study, illustrating Carpenters Group’s efficient and effective claims handling and most importantly, putting the claimant at the forefront.

I hope you enjoy reading this supplement, and if you have any feedback or comments, please do get in touch via the details below.

Poppy Green Co-Editor, Modern Insurance Magazine 01765 600909 | @Modern_Poppy | poppy@charltongrant.co.uk

Contents Interviews

22 Donna Scully

4 Carpenters Group

Leading providers of insurance and legal services, Carpenters Group has become a nationally recognised claims and legal solution provider. After undergoing their recent decision to re-brand as Carpenters Group, Modern Insurance spoke with their Executive Board about their new profile, the next steps and how Carpenters Group will continue to thrive and grow.

8 Meet the Exectutive Team 10 Donna Richards

Donna Scully, Director, discusses the potential effects of the whiplash reforms and how the insurance industry should prepare against claims management companies (CMCs).

Features 26 Choices throughout the digital customer journey

Donna Richards, CEO, looks at Carpenters Group’s company culture and how it is influencing the company’s growth.

She also discusses diversity, skills sets and the investment in people and how the wider cultural changes are being reflected by Carpenters Group.

28 The customer is key 30 Carpenters Group in Scottish growth drive

14 Karen Campell and Sam Nicholson

Karen Campbell, Chief Information Officer, and Sam Nicholson, Head of Insurance Services, address the claims process as well as how Carpenters Group’s Insurance Solutions Services are helping to banish the negative perceptions associated with claims management in the insurance industry.

18 Alan Hayes

Carpenters Group’s Chief Legal Officer, Alan Hayes, discusses legal services and what factors are influencing the challenges and opportunities currently facing them.

Co-Editor Poppy Green

Case Study 31 Customer care is at the heart of our business

Project Manager & Event Sales Rachael Pearson

Carpenters Group outline a recent case study, illustrating their efficient and effective claims handling as well as putting the claimant at the forefront.

Modern Insurance Magazine is published by Charlton Grant Ltd ©2018

All material is copyrighted both written and illustrated. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. All images and information is collated from extensive research and along with advertisements is published in good faith. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this publication was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

Carpenters Group Supplement 3

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Carpenters Group

Leading providers of insurance and legal services, Carpenters Group has become a nationally recognised claims and legal solution provider. After undergoing their recent decision to re-brand as Carpenters Group, Modern Insurance spoke with their Executive Board about their new profile, the next steps and how Carpenters Group will continue to thrive and grow.

4 Carpenters Group Supplement

Q

What was the decision behind changing from Carpenters Law to Carpenters Group?

Donna Richards: Carpenters became a group of companies in early 2017, bringing all of the trading entities together, it therefore felt an appropriate time to refresh the branding of the business. Our business offers a wide range of TPA and legal services to the insurance sector. We are so much more than a law firm and have been for some time. Carpenters Law did not reflect this, and therefore losing ‘Law’ from the branding was the right thing to do.

Q

How has the profile of the business and its service offering adapted since rebranding as Carpenters Group?

Alan Hayes: The promotion of Group better reflects the reality of our operations. We have been operating the Group businesses for a number of years, and there has always been a very clear distinction between the legal and

insurance divisions. The legal services are provided by Carpenters and the insurance services by Priory Insurance Services Limited. Our efforts this year are intended to provide clarity about that distinction and to set out the range of available insurance services provided by Priory.

We offer full claim handling services from FNOL, through all types of TP and AD claims, to treasury function and claims payment. All services are supported by market leading MI, providing full visibility of reserve movements, etc.

Q

How would you describe the Carpenters brand, and how has this been developed in the change to Carpenters Group?

Donna Scully: Our aim from day one was to provide a ‘quality personal service’ to customers. On top of that, we also wanted to be innovative, highly computerised and flexible in what we offer our insurer and broker clients. The progression to provide a much wider suite of services than just

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We are so much more than a law firm and have been for some time Donna Richards, CEO

legal is why we progressed to be a ‘group’.

We have, for many years now, diversified into other areas such as FNOL, claims handling, recoveries, defendant and expert fraud teams, but not everyone realised the wide range of services we offered and how many different departments we have within the business. We are trying to explain that better I suppose. We will continue to innovate as we never want to stand still. We have used artificial intelligence for many years and now have our own App, which is available on the App Store; our digital offering will never stand still and expands every day. We look to see what we think customers and introducers of work to us need, then make sure we offer it in a seamless, efficient and cost-effective way.

Q

How has the industry experience held by each of the directors influenced the change in the

brand?

AH: The Carpenters Board members

have almost all been working at, or with, Carpenters for over fifteen years and have been a part of the growth of the company.

With their steer, the business itself has moved from being a predominantly niche law firm to what is now known to be both the largest claimant law firm in the UK, but also a key provider of insurance services for some of the largest insurers and brokers in the country.

This has been made possible by the members of the Board understanding the insurance industry, engaging with the players in the market and investing time and effort into recognising what our customers want now and in the future.

Over the years this has ensured the changes we have made have allowed us to add value to our insurer and broker partnerships and provide a stand out service.

With the growth we have driven through Priory, our insurance services business, it was clearly the right time to change our

brand and recognise the wider group.

Q

How does the structure of the Carpenters Group business provide robustness in the face of market challenges?

DR: All businesses face challenges, none more so than this sector in recent years, and ongoing with the forthcoming reforms.

It is therefore imperative that any business ensures its offering is sustainable and adaptive. The changes in Carpenters Group over recent years have been built upon a customer centric, nimble service for insurers, brokers and their clients, together with continuous reinvestment in the business to provide a strong, sound financial base. The diversity of our offering across the group provides insurers with services at a sustainable price, with the knowledge that we work in partnership with them. This partnership with our insurance clients ensures we work together to provide the best solutions to their needs.

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Q

What are the values of Carpenters Group, and how does this influence the culture of the business?

Angeline Betts-Derbyshire: The Carpenters Group values were newly formulated in 2017 by our Executive Board and demonstrate a commitment to both our customers and our people. Our values are: • Driven to be the best (for our people, clients and sources)

• Doing the right thing (for our people, clients and sources) • Agile and adaptive • Innovative solutions • Supporting each other You will not see the Carpenters Group's values posted on our employee's desks or written on our walls, but if you speak with our employees they will demonstrate that our values are alive in our business. The new values were personally delivered to all employees by our Chief Executive, Donna Richards, by way of a series of ‘Town Halls’.

The success of this delivery was measured in our engagement survey in 2017, which confirmed that employees understood and believed in the values that were created.

Our values are not an attempt to dictate the culture of our business but they are a demonstration of our collective values, beliefs and behaviours. Our values and beliefs are integrated into the HR policies and processes, which influence our culture and our success reinforces our behaviours.

Q

How important is diversity and inclusion to Carpenters Group and how are you implementing this in the business values?

AB: Carpenters Group operates in diverse and multicultural societies in all of our locations. In doing the right thing for our people and supporting each other while offering a wide range of employment options, we become an attractive employer to most backgrounds and circumstances. There is no barrier to entry into our business and this naturally promotes diversity and inclusion; our business would struggle to operate without it. This is supported in our people policy and practice. Our values reflect our commitment to diversity and to making it second nature in our business, with a fully integrated approach in every part of the employee lifecycle. In addition to written policies and policy statements, which offer flexibility and promote consistency and inclusion, our Senior Managers lead by example. With our Executive and

Operations Board being predominantly female, we can demonstrate that diversity is a part of everyday life without question.

In order to live our values, we have to be diverse. We could not be agile and adaptive without the benefit of a diverse and inclusive employee base. Our people, values and culture make our success certain as we conduct ourselves to portray our work ethics and standards at every level throughout the business. We maintain an open and transparent environment and ensure our responsibilities are carried out with fairness, all of which are written into our Culture and Core Values statements.

Q

How is the company investing in its people to encourage everyone to drive the change to Carpenters Group forward?

Karen Campbell and Angeline BettsDerbyshire: The company is investing significantly in its people in various formats. We have appointed a new HR Director and strengthened the HR and Learning and Development function as well as Internal Communications and Recruitment. This investment in our business clearly demonstrates our commitment to developing our people to their full potential. Our HR team are currently working on updating our people policies and practices to further

With our Executive and Operations Board being predominantly female, we can demostrate that diversity is a part of everyday life without question Angeline Betts-Derbyshire, HR Director 6 Carpenters Group Supplement

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We are about to launch an employee recognition platform, which will promote our values of striving for excellence in all we do, aligning innovation, quality and process improvement by promoting peer to peer recognition Karen Campbell, Chief Information Officer, and Angeline Betts-Derbyshire, HR Director

promote our values and ensure we remain agile and adaptable while doing the right thing for our people. We have also invested in a number of business-wide people projects. In 2017 a large group of employees from across the business were involved in our Institute of Customer Service project, which culminated in them making presentations to our CEO and Executive Board of their ideas for business improvement in their area. A number of these innovations have either been or are planned to be implemented imminently. In 2018 we will be installing a new HR data system, which will give us better visibility and the ability to produce meaningful metrics to be used in influencing people policy requirements and ensuring we maintain diversity amongst other things.

We are about to launch an employee recognition platform, which will promote our values of striving for excellence in all we do, aligning innovation, quality and process improvement by promoting peer to peer recognition. It is particularly pertinent to our ‘supporting each other’ value, which details how every member of our team plays an important part, treating people as we would like to be treated and working together.

Q

How has Carpenters Group evolved over the years alongside changes in the legal and insurance industries?

DS: Since the personal injury arm was set up over twenty years ago, there has been constant change and reform, both in the legal area but also the insurance industry too. We have had to be prepared for that, embrace it and make sure we get the best out of it for everybody we deal with.

We never think reform means we have to deliver a more inferior service, we always think how can we deal with the reforms/ changes and make sure we are still cuttingedge and deliver a great service too.

Because we have invested in great people and IT from the outset, we have been able to prepare well for change and on most occasions, it can actually bring positive outcomes. We are very customer focused so if we don’t think proposed changes/ reforms are going to help customers or the industry, we do say so and we engage with those in power who are making the changes. We always try to engage in a positive way by not just disagreeing with change, but offering alternative solutions and opening our doors so we

can demonstrate why we believe in what we do.

Q

What does the future hold for Carpenters Group and how do you plan to continue to expand the business?

DR: Carpenters Group has always invested in new technologies and product offerings to the insurance sector, and will continue to do so. The strength and depth of these offerings allow us to continue expanding in a sustainable manner. The sector has seen a number of businesses in recent years stray from their core services and ultimately fail. We believe that all of our service offerings should link back to our core services. 2018 sees us move into the home LEI market with plans to expand our suite of insurer services into the home market to provide further customer centric, cost effective services to insurers.

As always, we remain agnostic. Our technology allows insurers to pick the best in breed for their supply chain whilst we manage this process on their behalf. We are very excited about these developments in the forthcoming year and look forward to rolling these services out. n

The Carpenters Group is one of the UK’s leading providers of insurance and legal services.

We work in partnership with a number of insurers, brokers and MGA’s to deliver a variety of fully outsourced claims solutions. Our team has grown to approximately 1000 staff across five locations throughout the UK. We have sites in Liverpool, Leeds, Birkenhead, Haywards Heath and Glasgow.

Our team’s insurance experience combined with our legal expertise gives us the size, scale and strength to successfully work in partnership with any insurer or broker. Our longstanding relationships are testament to the quality of our service. Our focus is always on the customer and ensuring their claims journey consistently exceeds expectation.

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Meet the Executive John Carpenter Chairman

John Carpenter was born and raised in Birkenhead and qualified as a Solicitor in 1975.

He was an Equity Partner in a large regional law firm with offices in Liverpool and London for 17 years specialising in corporate and employment law. John ran their London office between 1992 and 1994, before establishing Carpenters in 1994 as a sole practitioner. Since then the firm has grown into a major niche national PI Law Firm and outsourced provider of claims and legal services to the insurance industry.

John is a long-standing member of both the Law Society and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Donna Scully Director

Throughout Donna's career she has gone above and beyond to campaign for the rights of accident victims, fighting against policies and practices that could negatively impact on claimants and their access to justice.

After joining the Motor Accident Solicitors Society's management committee in 2004, her experience, dedication and passion saw her elected as MASS Chairman for a two year term in 2010. While leading MASS, Donna headed up the campaign against the Government's patchwork of reforms to the civil justice funding system that threatened to reduce access to justice for victims.

Known for her efforts to work collaboratively with the industry to combat fraud, Donna established the Fraud Forum at MASS in 2010, has held a seat on the Insurance Times' Fraud Charter since its launch in 2012 and was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement award at the 2014 Personal Injury Awards. In June 2018, Insurance Business UK named her as one of the insurance industry’s Women of Influence.

Her expertise within the market has given her membership to the Modern Insurance Magazine's editorial board and she is also an ambassador on the I Love Claims advisory board, and has been since its inception in 2010.

Originally from Dublin, Donna moved to the UK in 1985 and worked with various law firms before joining Carpenters in 1997, where she set up its specialist Personal Injury department. Carpenters Group are now one of the leading Legal and TPA Providers to the UK Insurance Market.

Donna Richards

CEO

Donna is the CEO of Carpenters Group, having assumed the position in February 2016.

As Chief Executive, Donna leads the board of executives and holds responsibility for the continued strategic growth, diversification and management of the firm. Donna, previously Carpenters’ CFO, has over 20 years’ experience of advising the legal sector in relation to strategic and financial matters and her appointment serves to further strengthen the businesses corporate management structure, bolstering continued success within the market.

During Donna’s tenure as CFO the firm successfully tendered for and renewed a number of high profile contracts with large national insurers and added three more offices in Glasgow, Leeds and Liverpool to its operation

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Team

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Alan Hayes

Chief Legal Officer Alan qualified as a Solicitor in 1993 having trained at a leading insurance practice. He spent seven years representing insurers in personal injury actions before joining Carpenters Group in 2000. As Chief Legal Officer, Alan is responsible for developing the firm’s legal strategy and managing the Risk & Compliance function. Alan also has a key involvement in maintaining the firm’s commercial relationships with Insurers.

As a member of the Executive Board, Alan has a key role in the growth and expansion of the firm.

Karen Campbell

Chief Information Officer

Karen joined Carpenters Group in 2003 as IT Manager and has created a dynamic and forward-thinking IT team to deliver the systems and technical expertise to enable Carpenters to meet and exceed their growth plans. As Chief Information Officer Karen oversees a large team who are responsible for achieving and surpassing the IT requirements of both internal and external stakeholders.

As a member of the Executive Board Karen ensures that an innovative and robust IT strategy is implemented to support the firm, clients and staff.

Chet Mistry

Finance Director

Chet qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994 and has held senior finance roles in the financial services industry for the last 15 years, many of which within the insurance broking and claims management sectors. As Finance Director Chet is responsible for developing the firm’s finance strategy and managing the Finance function. Chet has key involvement in all financial compliance work and is also responsible for ensuring a robust framework is in place for the firm’s financial processing and reporting.

As a member of the Executive Board, Chet has a key role in driving the firm’s business strategy and overseeing the financial planning process.

Our aim from day one was to provide a ‘quality personal service’ to customers. On top of that, we also wanted to be innovative, highly computerised and flexible Donna Scully, Director Carpenters Group Supplement 9

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Donna Richards Donna Richards, CEO, looks at Carpenters Group’s company culture and how it is influencing the company’s growth.

She also discusses diversity, skills sets and the investment in people and how the wider cultural changes are being reflected by Carpenters Group.

10 Carpenters Group Supplement

Q A

What have been the biggest changes to the insurance industry you’ve witnessed during your time working in it?

Recent years have seen insurers really pushing their digital transformation projects, together with new entrants into the market with online and tech based product offering.

There has also been a growth in the number of new MGA’s in the market.

Outsourcing of functions and areas of insurance has increased in support of these changes. It is often easier and cheaper to outsource areas that are changing in a dynamic manner.

Q

How will the change to Carpenters Group reflect the wider cultural changes happening within the market?

A

There are two primary current areas of change within the market.

We have seen more insurers move towards online only propositions, and increased sophistication around a digital customer journey. Our large in-house IT team allows us to keep ahead of the market in terms of technology. While it is difficult to provide legal advice online (customers generally want to discuss their claim), the legal side of the business has developed applications that significantly improve communication, and allows customers to manage their claim online.

The second area of change arises from the whiplash reforms, and specifically the challenges that insurers will face both in dealing with third party litigants in person and claims management companies, but also in assisting their own non-fault customers – who will need assistance in

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navigating what for many will remain a baffling system. We are working with our insurer clients on proposition development to meet both of these challenges.

Q

How would you define Carpenters Group’s company culture?

A

Inclusive most definitely.

Carpenters is a large business but has been able to maintain its family feel! The whole team care and are all important cogs in the wheels of our business. One of our core values is ‘Doing The Right Thing’, be this for our clients, insurers or our team. The intention is always the same, to do the best thing for that person/individual. If we get that foundation stone right then we will maintain our inclusiveness, which can so often get lost in the growth of a business.

Q

How is company leadership in the insurance industry evolving to meet the needs of a modern workforce?

A

Working in the insurance sector the lack of diversity is noticeable, with very few women in senior positions. At my first ABI conference I was shocked at the gender mix. I do not believe in positive discrimination, I believe that the best person should be selected for each role. However, I also believe that in order to ensure that a business has a balanced outlook there should be some reflection

of the general population mix in its senior leadership. Career paths are key, together with flexible working. Business is no longer nine to five, this change, together with technological advances, should remove barriers to flexibility and open the workplace to a more diverse team, which would provide a broader outlook for businesses in this sector.

Q

How important is it for Carpenters Group to invest in their people?

And what benefits can this bring for the company and its future?

A

Carpenters Group is fundamentally a people business, we provide services, be they by technological routes or the human touch. It is therefore critical that we invest in our people, that they are engaged with our business and are all striving to improve themselves

and our business. We are Investors In People Gold Accredited and are aiming to improve this. Our annual staff surveys provide valuable feedback that assists us in developing our business and our team.

We have a ‘Fit For The Future’ project and all of the team are encouraged to put forward ideas and suggestions to ensure we are always challenging methodology and improving our business. This is key!

Q

How does building relationships with your employees benefit Carpenters Group’s business growth?

A

As I said previously, our people are key. Our Executive Team have an open door policy and this is encouraged throughout the Group. You have to be approachable and lead by

Working in the insurance sector the lack of diversity is noticeable

Donna Richards. CEO at Carpenters Group Carpenters Group Supplement 11

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By making the claims journey smooth and as painless as possible, providing the support that policy holders need, I hope that we are doing our bit to change the negative perception of the insurer with the public example. You cannot expect people to be committed to your business if you yourself do not show and live this commitment.

The old adage that more information about your business is gleaned over water cooler conversations is so true. Without the commitment of our people, the business will not attain its desired growth. We have also recently further invested in our Internal Comms and ThanksBox, which is an employee recognition tool; we have great people and acknowledging their successes is key.

Q

What skillsets will be crucial in the insurance industry of the future, and how are Carpenters Group supporting training and development to nurture these skills?

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A

The focus is clearly customer service and smart solutions to help insurer customers in a cost effective manner. The evolution of technological change is so fast paced now, and consumers expect this to be embraced but still feel they have a personal service. We are continuously investing in our people; we have career paths and apprentice programs that will ensure we are developing and enhancing the skills sets of our team, both those joining and those team members who have been part of our business for a long time. Our Learning and Development Manager is working with both HR and our internal training teams to ensure we do not have a skills gap. Our apprenticeship program covers all areas from customer services, legal and technology to ensure we continue to grow our own.

Q A

How are client expectations of their service providers changing, and how is Carpenters Group adapting to these?

All of our source clients are looking to their supply chain and what their digital journey is. We are no different; our digital journey is a partnership with our clients. We are able to be innovative and adaptive due to the investment in our in-house developers. They are constantly updating and innovating new technological solutions for the business.

We are able to integrate with all of the key suppliers in the insurance sector supply chain and we are able to move resource in a nimble manner to projects to assist our source clients. We have to be flexible and innovative, always working on our future

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plans to ensure our digital offerings are forerunners in the sector.

Q

How do you feel the industry is perceived by the public, and what role will Carpenters Group play in positively influencing this perception?

A

The industry does not have a positive image overall. Insurance, especially car insurance, is something people have to have, rather than want to have. The insurers are seen as ‘fat cats’ who make it difficult to claim, which is the key experience for any policy holder. Carpenters Group always endeavours to provide excellent customer service during the claims journey. We provide this journey, white labelled, through Priory Insurance Services Limited.

It is imperative that we deliver excellent customer service during this claims journey. By making the claims journey smooth and as painless as possible, providing the support that policyholders need, I hope that we are doing our bit to change the negative perception of the insurer with the public!

Q A

How do the different divisions of Carpenters Group work together to achieve better client outcomes?

Carpenters Group provides an end to end claims journey for its clients, always with customers at the heart of the process. From the team in our 24/7/365 UK based contact centre, Priory Insurance Services Limited, through to the senior lawyers in our Serious Injury Team, the efforts of all are to provide the best service and outcome for our insurer/broker client’s customers in a professional manner.

Q A

What are the next steps of Carpenters Law’s evolution into Carpenters Group?

Our focus in the short term is to raise awareness of the insurer services that we have been providing for many years. While these services are well known to our existing insurer clients, the white-labelled nature of our offering means that they are less well known to the wider industry. We are not so much evolving into the Group, which has in fact been operating for over ten years, but are evolving our message.

We have to be flexible and innovative, always working on our future plans to ensure our digital offerings are forerunners in the sector We continually look for areas where we can offer additional support to insurers, and are currently looking to expand our household offering, both in the insurance and legal divisions. n

Donna Richards

CEO at Carpenters Group

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Karen Campbell & Karen Campbell, Chief Information Officer, and Sam Nicholson, Head of Insurance Services, address the claims process as well as how Carpenters Group’s Insurance Solutions Services are helping to banish the negative perceptions associated with claims management in the insurance industry.

Q

Can you outline Carpenters Group’s Insurance Solutions services and how these benefit the Group’s partners and clients?

A

Carpenters Group's Insurance Solutions acts as a third party administrator delivering non legal insurer services to insurers, brokers and MGA’s; all services can be fully outsourced and white labelled. Our FNOL service is menu based and allows our clients to select the required level of support and any combination of full FNOL, out of hours, overflow and surge support and business continuity planning. We also currently offer two FNOL mechanisms, one being that our staff have direct access to the insurer’s system and the second being that the FNOL is taken on our system, developed to the individual requirements of the client, the claims' data is then exported to the client’s own claims system.

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We offer a fully outsourced and branded claims department, handling own damage and third party claims. We adopt the same processes and procedures as our clients, and as with the FNOL service, the extent of claims handling provision is flexible. We can undertake full claims handling, or conduct specific categories of claims and set a number of monthly instructions. We follow the strategy set by our clients. Our focus is looking after our customer, reducing third party indemnity spend, and being robust in identifying and challenging suspected fraudulent cases.

Q

How do the services offered by Carpenters Group’s Insurance Solutions help to address the negative perceptions or activity of claims management in the insurance industry?

A

Our focus, without exception, is on providing a first class customer experience for the individual policyholder. We appreciate that the customer claims experience is crucial to reputation, renewal and retention.

We work pro-actively with our insurer clients to identify, reduce and eliminate

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Sam & Nicholson fraud at every stage of the process and have recently been accepted to join the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s affiliate membership programme. Having worked closely with the IFB for some time on the development of policies to combat fraud, this new, more formal relationship reflects our long-standing commitment to fight fraud of all types across the motor insurance sector. Our affiliate membership will support the existing strategies that we adopt on behalf of our insurer clients, and will enhance the range of insurance services that we offer. We have insurer

relationships that have lasted for more than twenty years, and currently work with many leading insurers. Our longstanding relationships are testament to the quality of our service, and our ability to meet the ever evolving demands of the insurance sector.

Q A

In which areas is there scope for streamlining the claims process?

We are a technology driven business, and our longstanding policy of investment in this area means that we are well placed to deliver

market leading digital solutions to both insurers and customers. We believe that there is scope across the whole end to end process to use technology to improve efficiency, become more cost effective and deliver an enhanced customer service.

Q A

How might technology make the claims process more efficient?

There are a number of ways in which technology could make the claims process more efficient, such as FNOL systems with the ability

Our focus is looking after our customer, reducing third party indemnity spend, and being robust in identifying and challenging suspected fraudulent cases

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to download telematics data/dashcam footage etc.; metadata used to identify incident information such as GPS coordinates. Where appropriate, customer self-registration of claims supported

by Chatbot/live chat at any time of the day. Voice analysis for fraud prevention as well as automated fraud checking.

Speech recognition for identification and DPA checks. Image recognition for liability decision, vehicle roadworthiness and extent of damage. Online portals and mobile application to track claim status, review and upload documents and interact directly. Online video call medical assessment, rehabilitation and GP reporting timely information producing real time reporting improves the accuracy of the data as customers have more control and data is not being duplicated across different areas of the process.

Q

How will the skills required to carry out claims management change in conjunction with continued evolution in technology?

A

Staff will be more experienced and highly skilled as automation will remove many simple tasks and technology will allow the customer to selfserve simple claims. Staff will need to be more data focused and have the ability to interpret data. Analytical skills will be key as data volumes and complexity increases.

Q A

How are changing customer expectations necessitating change in the claims process, and what form is this change taking?

We are constantly evolving to meet customer demand and improve the customer journey.

These days, customers expect everything to be handled in one call and with easy access to check the present position of the claim journey. With Total Deployment, we are able to provide the customer with an improved claims journey, our experienced handler discusses the incident and the customer’s specific requirements,

while our system adapts and tailors the onward services to their needs. This ensures we capture the claim, effectively utilising our client’s supply chain ensuring a smooth, hassle free journey for the customer. Hire, repair and legal services are handled in one call, rather than three.

We have built links with most of the major mobility providers in the UK, and operate a delegated authority hire and repair arrangement with credit hire organisations.

Under these DA schemes the hire vehicle and repairs are arranged during the FNOL call, significantly reducing leakage and improving the customer experience. This presents a huge benefit for the customer, who need only to have one call to report the accident and make arrangements for hire and repair – rather than the usual two.

This process applies to both fault and nonfault incidents, and managed through our Hub. Carpenters is uniquely positioned to offer this additional service enhancement, utilising our group’s law firm, and the structure of our FNOL proposition enables us to conclude the legal instruction at FNOL. We have created an online portal and mobile application to track claim status, review and upload documents and interact directly.

Q A

How would you define good customer service in the claims process?

Get it right first time, every time and do what we say we will do. Be available when customers need us and explain the process clearly so they understand what happens next and what we will take care of for them. We are here to help them get back to normality and cause the least disruption to their day to day lives.

Customers’ expectations have changed and they expect an insurance product to

Processes should follow the customer, rather than the other way around 16 Carpenters Group Supplement

Interviews

be as flexible as any other service industry experience, whether that be the ability to track their claims process online, instant messaging for updates, uploading docs via mobile/tablet and easy access to someone who can tell them what is happening through multiple channels.

Our role moving forward will be to provide choices for our customer, having the right people, with the right skills using the right technology whenever and however the customer chooses to interact with us.

Processes should follow the customer, rather than the other way around; our system allows the customer to start with whichever aspect of the claim is most pressing to them. Our service is designed with a conversational style and at the end of the call the customer must be happy that they have been looked after, and that their needs will be met.

Q A

How does collaboration across the divisions of Carpenters Group contribute to a speedy and satisfactory claims service?

Our pre-litigation department is split into separate teams: FNOL, AD, TPPD, TPPI (including specialist hire, fraud and large loss teams) and Outlay Recovery.

Our FNOL/AD handlers are encouraged to focus on meeting the customer’s needs, ensuring the right liability decision is made and that the claim is dealt with as swiftly and effectively as possible to maximise customer experience.

The TPPD department consists of fully trained claims handlers who are experienced in dealing with all property related damages including credit hire, repairs, storage and recovery. The TPPI team possess the same skills and in addition are well versed in handling injury claims and the associated heads of loss.

All teams benefit from advice and training provided by our defence legal team.

Q

How is the Carpenters Group business model designed to overcome changes and challenges in the claims market?

A

We offer a suite of services for our insurer and broker partners. We make continuous investment in our people, emerging technologies and IT infrastructure providing us with market leading functionality and a flexible and agile customer solution. Our in-house IT team with over 50 specialists design, develop and service our multifaceted systems. Our use of web based technology enables us to provide accurate, GDPR compliant communication exchange between ourselves, our customers and our insurer and broker partners. Carpenters Group prides itself on leading innovation across the business, for example Total Deployment improves the customer journey by deploying supply chain services at FNOL stage, early settlement protocol, a portal based solution for early settlement of legal cases, third party capture plus, a future proof solution for third party intervention and independent claims resolution utilising an impartial barrister. n

Customers’ expectations have changed and they expect an insurance product to be as flexible as any other service industry experience

Karen Campbell

is the Chief Information Officer

Sam Nicholson

is Head of Insurance Services at Carpenters Group.

Sam is ACII qualified and joined Carpenters in 2016 as Head of Insurance Services, bringing over 25 years of Insurance experience gained at General Accident, Norwich Union and Aviva.

Sam has worked in a senior operational capacity for over 12 years, and her current responsibilities include oversight of our First Response Unit and Claims Teams, to ensure a consistently high level of service is delivered to our Insurer clients.

Where settlement cannot be agreed, our expert defence legal team are able to defend the interests of both the insurer and the customer. Our case management system is Visual Files, from which we have developed VF Insurance (FNOL and Claims) and VF Legal. This means that the claims and legal defence claims management systems are based on the same platform, streamlining integration and enabling automatic claim and reserve updates.

Carpenters Group Supplement 17

Interviews

Alan Hayes Carpenters Group’s Chief Legal Officer, Alan Hayes, discusses legal services and what factors are influencing the challenges and opportunities currently facing them.

Q A

What are Carpenters Group's plans for the continued expansion of its legal services?

This is a hugely difficult time for the motor and injury sectors – both for lawyers and for insurers.

We strongly believe that the whiplash reforms will bring a series of unintended consequences, with implications that have not been foreseen by the Government.

The intention of the reforms is to remove lawyers from the system. That will open up the market for CMCs. They will step into the gap left by lawyers. This will expose consumers at best to poor service, and at worse to fraud from bad CMCs. While these CMCs will still be interested in the injury claim, and particularly rehab, their real focus will be on bent metal. They will be looking to capture and maximise claims for credit hire and credit repair.

The increased involvement of CMCs will create new challenges for insurers in terms of the different nature of claimant representatives, and the increased risk of fraud.

18 Carpenters Group Supplement

The nature of claimants will also present a challenge for insurers. The reforms are based on the premise that individuals will run their own claims, and the litigantsin-person portal has been built for that purpose. This change will present operational challenges for our insurer clients in two respects: Dealing with third-party LIPs will place a high demand on insurer resources.

Claimant lawyers currently serve as a filter for unmeritorious and unreasonable claims.

That task will need to be undertaken by insurers, who are likely to be seen as biased by the claimant as they are paying the claim, whereas a lawyer is independent.

Insurers and brokers will also need to dedicate resource to looking after their own non-fault customers. These customers will need help in navigating what will remain a daunting process. Advising nonfault customers on claims against third parties is not only a significant enterprise requiring skill, knowledge and experience, but it also requires the insurer to be

Interviews

The whiplash reforms will bring a series of unintended consequences, with implications that have not been foreseen by the Government

regulated by the Claims Management Regulator under the Compensation Act. For those insurers that derive revenue from non-fault claims, it is particularly important that they retain control of the non-fault customer journey – otherwise, they will lose significant hire, repair, medical and rehab income to other providers.

Q A

How are legal services becoming more efficient as market and costs pressures increase?

The motor and injury legal sector has needed to cope with multiple changes over recent years. We have seen income significantly reduced through the introduction of fixed costs, and route to market disrupted by the referral fee ban under LASPO. We have applied a rolling program of continuous improvement across the Group for many years, through which we have strived to provide an improved service through the adoption of market leading IT. The use of

technology is crucial in delivering a first class customer experience, and in reducing our costs base to ensure that we can remain highly competitive in commercial terms.

We have never taken any commission from services such as hire, medical or rehab, and nor does the Group own or have any interest in businesses that provide those services. We get paid for the legal and insurer services that we provide, and so it is essential that those services can adapt to the changing and increasing pressures on the market.

Q A

How is technology influencing Carpenters Group's legal services?

As a group, we have always invested in technology, which means that we have a good platform, which we can use to meet the ever-increasing demands of our clients. All of our technology is designed to improve

the experience for the customer, with efficiencies leading to costs savings that we can pass on to our insurer clients.

We adopt the best available technology to apply a process of continuous improvement both in the legal and insurance businesses. We are for example improving the way in which dash cam footage can be uploaded as part of our FNOL process, and our MyClaim App allows customers to manage their claim from their smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Q A

How are the skillsets within legal services diversifying, and do you see this continuing in the future?

We do not anticipate any wholesale changes in the nature of skillsets required to deliver motor and injury legal services. While the whiplash reforms may change the nature of the funding arrangements, we expect customers who have paid for a service to receive that service, and that is what we intend to

Carpenters Group Supplement 19

Interviews

The greatest change in clients' expectations over recent years has related to the development of technology deliver. The challenge will be to deliver those services more efficiently.

There may be a requirement in some circumstances to provide more of a "hand-holding" approach with customers, and there is talk of some insurers and lawyers developing self-serve models.

We are considering those options, which will require different skillsets, but careful thought must be given to the efficacy of those arrangements, and the nature of the customer experience that they provide.

Q

Have client needs and expectations changed greatly in recent years, and how has Carpenters Group responded to any changes?

A

Customers have always found dealing with accidents to be difficult and stressful, but over recent years the number of additional

20 Carpenters Group Supplement

players in the market has made the process even more confusing. Clients generally receive multiple unsolicited calls following an accident offering services, including from the third-party insurer.

The frequency of credit hire and rehab is much higher than in previous years, meaning additional contact points for the customer. We are adopting strategies to reduce the number of contact points and calls for the client following an accident, to simplify the process.

The greatest change in clients' expectations over recent years has related to the development of technology. The days of sending a letter and waiting for a response are long gone. Clients now expect almost instant communication through email and our App. This changing dynamic in the nature of customer Interaction has been seen across all service industries. Meeting this demand requires heavy investment in IT, and ensuring that we have people with the right customer service skills and the right training.

Q A

What do you believe is key to building successful and sustainable insurer relations?

The single, most fundamental requirement for building insurer relations is to look after the insurer's customer. If the customer is happy, their insurer is also likely to be happy. It is crucial to adopt a partnership approach in achieving this aim and to work together to achieve the best outcome for the customer.

The other key aspect of a sustainable relationship is transparency. It is important to be completely open about all aspects of the arrangement. If either party to a relationship feels like they are getting a bad deal, then the relationship will not be sustained.

Interviews

Q A

What is the value of providing tailored legal services to clients, and what is the best approach when creating these?

We have a strong belief across the Group in the benefit of tailored services. Our legal service is tailored to each customer. Each individual client has specific needs and requirements, and this applies to all cases – from a simple uninsured loss recovery case to a catastrophic injury case. The individual circumstances of each customer must be considered, along with the significance of the claim to them. We consider not only substance of the claim, but also aspects such as the preferred method of communication. Some customers prefer more of a hand-holding approach with lots of discussion and explanation, whereas others prefer the efficiency of electronic communication.

The single, most fundamental requirement for building insurer relations is to look after the insurer's customer

It is also important to offer bespoke services on the insurer side of the business. All insurers have different priorities and different requirements. We develop insurer and broker specific FNOL and claims systems, in conjunction with our insurer clients, to ensure that their specific needs are met. We are able to bring, not only our own developers an IT to that process, but also a wealth of experience gained in acting for multiple insurers over many years.

Q A

What new and emerging risks are facing law firms and how is Carpenters Group addressing

these?

The main risks facing motor and injury law firms arise from the whiplash reforms, and the resultant new entrants to the market in terms of CMCs. We are working with our insurer and broker clients to ensure that individual customers remain protected despite these changes, and continue to receive the highest quality service. n

Alan Hayes

is Chief Legal Officer at Carpenters Group.

Carpenters Group Supplement 21

Interviews

Donna Scully

Donna Scully, Director, discusses the potential effects of the whiplash reforms and how the insurance industry should prepare against claims management companies (CMCs).

Q

What will be the key components of a claims portal system for litigants in person (LIPs) in order to ensure fair and continued access to justice?

A

The most important requirement of the LIP Portal, if it is to succeed, is simplicity. If the process is complex individuals will not use it, or will seek help from CMCs, and the intention of the Portal will be defeated. The developers need to be clear about the distinction between the LIP Portal providing a method of communication with insurers, and, to the extent that it will do so, providing guidance in relation to the claim.

There are still many issues to resolve. In liability disputes, how far will the Portal go in providing guidance on evidence? On quantum, will the Portal offer assistance with the interpretation of medical evidence? It will be crucial for individuals to be able to identify whether the injury falls within the definition of “whiplash�, whether there are any other injuries and how they should be valued, and any risk factors such as a short period of memory loss. If the system is complex, or for example there is no easy process for resolving liability disputes, the Portal could be used to deter claims and reduce indemnity spend, denying liability in the expectation that a percentage of claims

22 Carpenters Group Supplement

Interviews

To survive the future,companies will need to have a strong, innovative digital offering will go away - because pursuing them is too difficult for the individual.

Q A

Do you foresee any positive influence on the claims market from the whiplash reforms in their current form?

In their current form, it’s hard to see much, if any, positive influence.

If the right amount of time and resource is spent on getting the new LIP Portal right, it should be better plugged in to fraud databases and fully integrated with MedCo. The combination of the proposed increase in the Small Claims Limit and the low tariff damages mean that professional legal support will become increasingly hard to come by, and vulnerable accident victims will be openly encouraged into the grateful arms of CMCs. They will effectively deregulate the market so that claims farmers can handle cases through to conclusion, most likely using the likes of “McKenzie friends’ when there is litigation.

took over a year of negotiations between insurers and claimant solicitors, it still demonstrates what can be achieved by an open dialogue and genuine collaboration to find real solutions to tackle fraudulent behaviour.

Claims are falling and the cost of claims is reducing and I believe that is down to the positive reforms already introduced. As the Justice Select Committee recommended, we have to assess how the previous reforms have worked, both bad and good. It is only then that we can learn from what has worked and deliver further positive reform.

Q

How do you predict rogue claims management companies (CMCs) will adapt to the whiplash

reforms, and how should the insurance industry prepare for any such changes?

A

The proposed reforms as planned at present will open the floodgates to bad CMCs who will need somewhere to go after the end of PPI and holiday sickness claims. I strongly suspect that the CMCs are already preparing for this. We know from the past that after every regulatory change in the market, CMCs and others have recalibrated their business model. The best ones become fully compliant, but many others find loopholes and work-arounds.

The only way insurers can try to combat this is to capture and protect the rights

Without Part 2, the reforms will be piecemeal and prone to further abuse.

Credit hire, credit repair and rehab commissions will mean that claims will still have huge value and be gamed, perhaps even more than now.

Q

Where have insurance industry stakeholders collaborated to bring about positive change in the past, and are there ways this collaboration can be replicated to create more joined up outcomes to personal injury reform?

A

I’m probably biased because I was so closely involved, but the development of AskCUE PI was a significant achievement. Although it

Carpenters Group Supplement 23

Interviews

of their non-fault customers post reform.

Otherwise, the bad CMCs will be like vultures pushing through every claim and making sure to maximise the damages paid and the commissions raised. That will drive the number and cost of claims up not down as anticipated.

Q

How are CMCs influencing the reputation of the claims sector, and how can the sector work to repair any damage that may have been caused?

A

The relatively poor reputation of the claims sector has been influenced by many things, but the proliferation of PI television adverts and the millions of cold calls and texts have plagued us all.

If bad CMCs move in and push the number and cost of claims up, it is going to be impossible to put that genie back into the bottle. We don’t want to see an increase in ‘gaming’ and customers being aggressively encouraged into making claims just to raise money for CMCs. Fraud is likely to increase too, which will undermine all the hard work that has been done to date collaboratively to combat fraud.

Q A

How is Carpenters Group responding to the uncertainty and the looming change heralded by the whiplash reforms?

The whiplash reforms will bring significant change for all sectors of the industry; insurers, lawyers and consumers. The focus was initially on the saving in claims costs for insurers, but there is now increasing concern among insurers about the impact that removal of representation will have on customers.

The reforms are based on the premise that small claims are easy and can be run by individuals, and further that injury claims can be handled by litigants in person within that process. A system based on these assumptions will have a number of consequences for insurers. Dealing with unrepresented third parties, or those involved with a CMC, will require additional insurer resource both in terms of managing

24 Carpenters Group Supplement

the expectation of the claimant, and in terms of the nature of claims that we are likely to see.

Insurers will need to dedicate significant resource to managing claims of unrepresented third parties and unrepresented policy holders. It would be interesting to see by how much the cost of managing these claims reduces the estimated insurer savings.

Q A

How is Carpenters Group futureproofing the business against the potential impact of personal injury reforms?

We are working with our insurance clients on strategies to ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality customer experience, while at the same time protecting the interests of our insurer clients and their customers. This applies in both the insurance and legal sides of the Group.

We have seen an increasing willingness over recent years in the willingness of insurers to outsource services, and have been pleased to offer support in those areas. We expect the demand for third party administration services to continue.

On the legal side of the organisation, we will be able to offer support to insurers in anticipating and dealing with the new types claim that will be seen, in managing unrepresented third-party claims, and in providing support to customers who will – inevitably in my view - continue to

require support through what will remain a confusing and adversarial litigation process.

Q

What are the current barriers to collaboration to tackle fraud between the different parties in the insurance industry? Can any barriers that do exist be overcome?

A

Clearly, collaboration on any meaningful level is made considerably more difficult when one side is threatening the other and with trust at the heart of successful negotiation, regrettably further progress may not be made until the current reforms have been resolved. Going forward, we clearly need to share data better and we need to collaborate on combating fraud more. The barriers to this happening have created a breeding ground for fraud to prosper.

That is in part why the defendant part of Carpenters sought affiliate membership of the Insurance Fraud Bureau.

Q

How else do you predict the claims sector will evolve in the years to come, and how will the different parties involved need to prepare for this?

A

I suspect that following the reforms, there will be a lot more CMCs and fewer lawyers regrettably. There is likely to be further consolidation amongst law firms and the distinctions between who provides what claims services blurring. We are already seeing companies like medical agencies

If bad CMCs move in and push the number and cost of claims up, it is going to be impossible to put that genie back into the bottle

Interviews

The most important requirement of the LIP Portal, if it is to succeed, is simplicity buying law firms, brokers and credit hire companies and putting them all together.

We are likely to see a great deal more of that in the years ahead.

More generally, to survive the future, companies will need to have a strong, innovative digital offering. I still believe that experienced claims people are vital too and getting the balance between technology and the more personalised, human touch, where needed, is very important.

Q A

What have been the biggest areas of positive change you’ve seen in the claims sector during your time working within it?

We have already come a long way in reforming the motor insurance system in the last few years – the MoJ Portal and fixed costs, further reduced fixed costs through LASPO including a ban on referral fees, the end of recovery of ATE Premiums and success fees and QOCS, AskCUEPI, ‘fundamental dishonesty’, MedCo, and more recently the assorted recommendations of the Insurance Fraud Taskforce and Carol Brady’s CMC review.

As a result, fraud is dealt with much better and the claims process does deliver a quicker more efficient service to motor customers cutting down on the need for litigation.

Positive, good reform and change is always welcome but we do have a poor track record as an industry for getting it wrong and then having to mop up the ‘unintended consequences’ afterwards.

We can and should avoid doing that again.

If we are going to make change, let’s get it right first time! n

Donna Scully

is Director at Carpenters Group.

Carpenters Group Supplement 25

Choices Throughout the

FUTURE

CURRENT

Carpenters Group’s use of technology currently enables them to provide a safe and GDPR compliant communication exchange between them and suppliers.

However, the changing face of the insurance world means they will be using technology in a smarter way to assist with improving the customer journey, their visibility and speed.

FNOL

Validation

Deployment

Smart FNOL

Secure Validation

Hub based deployment

n Branded web-based FNOL system built and developed in-house

n Daily secure policy data feeds

n Web based supply chain Network

n One click automated DVLA and MID searches

n 2 way communication with Insurer and Broker

n Intelligent call routing through our Avaya phone system

n Built-in liability matrix n Automated fraud checking

Smarter FNOL

Intelligent Validation

Total deployment

Customer self-registration of claim supported by:

n Speech recognition for identification and DPA check

n Chatbot for Q&A

n Image recognition for liability decision and vehicle roadworthiness and extent of damage

n Single contact with customer at FNOL with delegated authority to deploy to Mobility, Repair, Medical & Legal

n Live chat access n True IVR technology n Voice analysis for fraud prevention

n Metadata used to identify incident information such as GPS co-ordinates

n Image recognition to assess damage severity for Total Loss, Smart Repair or Cash in Lieu opportunities n On-line Skype medical assessment, rehabilitation & GP reporting

Digital Customer Journey Their ever evolving customer-centric approach coupled with the assurance that technology will support their needs creates an enhanced overall customer experience.

Settlement

Engagement

Innovative settlement

Effective communication

n In-house claims systems supported by specialists

n Independent Claims Resolution: Utilising an impartial barrister to arbitrate claims with TPI’s to avoid lengthy court delays and associated costs

n End to end Insurer Branding n Available 24/7/365 for customer support n Supporting panel relationships n Supply chain management n Monthly performance MI and strategic reviews

Digital support

Future Proof

Bringing customers closer

n Self-service claim link to MOJ portal

n Early Settlement Protocol (ESP) is an in-house portal based solution for a 7 day settlement of legal cases following a medical report

n Available to the customer whenever they need support using their communication method of choice

n MyClaim 1.1 online portal and mobile application to track claim status, review and upload documents and interact directly

n MyClaim 2.0 improvements to include live chat, image capture & medical appointment changes

n Third Party Capture to incorporate repair estimation, personal injury compensation value and swift settlement to reduce indemnity spend n Artificial Intelligence progressing cases and reducing settlement time

n Utilising MyClaim to push Insurance messages to customers n Guidewire integration partner n Insurer self-serving analytics

FUTURE

Traditional support

CURRENT

Claim

Features

The customer is key

At Carpenters Group we help thousands of injured people every year. We help them get the right treatment and rehabilitation, the right compensation they are justly entitled to and we try and help them achieve peace of mind by ensuring we take the stress out of the claims process for them.

We understand that no two cases are ever the same, that's why we offer a flexible solution to our customers, with everything they may need for their individual claim. We are dedicated to providing help to every customer and we pride ourselves on delivering a first class customer experience.

Mark Bratherton, Head of Technical and Defence Litigation Representing the interests of customers is paramount to ensuring matters proceed to Court with minimal client involvement and at the earliest opportunity. We act for clients nationwide.

We understand the needs of clients and work hard at securing an early admission of liability, early interim payments and ensuring that handpicked experts are instructed. We also only use specialist Counsel. Our 28 Carpenters Group Supplement

aim at all times is to ensure clients are provided with a quality service with minimum fuss.

In acting for insurers we place their interests at the heart we do. Accurate early reserving ensures insurers know the liability they face.

Making sure the interests of the insurers and their clients are protected in litigation is paramount. Creating early liability decisions to reduce

costs, promoting early settlement and providing accurate quantum advice is at the heart of what we do.

The key to our relationship is maximising savings for the insurers and ensuring the lifecycle of cases is reduced to a minimum.

Thereafter on case conclusion, we are able to offer specialist costs advice to insurers ensuring their costs liability is minimised.

Features

Maria Rodman, Head of Risk & Compliance: Reputation is King, especially as consumers are increasingly savvy and expect customer service to be of the highest standard. It's no longer a case of the customer fitting into a company's "process". We need to be flexible to meet their needs as an individual, giving them the confidence that we will do the right thing.

When things go wrong, which will happen even in the most reputable businesses, we have clear channels through which complaints can be dealt with fairly and openly to reach a resolution.

Our obligations are to our customers first and by acting in their best interests, being compliant will naturally follow. This is particularly true when considering the needs of our more vulnerable customers, even tailoring the service to their individual circumstances and having the right support processes in place. Perhaps most

importantly of all we establish controls to prevent customers from falling victim to fraud.

Data security is obviously right at the top of the agenda now but we have been looking after the security of customers' data ever since we started. Advances in technology mean that data is extremely mobile and companies have vast databases with lots of personal information.

Customers are always very concerned about how we keep, share and store their data and this is something we spend a lot of time thinking about.

This has not all started with GDPR, although that has made some important changes in giving individuals proper actionable rights to stop rogue operators involved in data crime. We think of data at every stage of our claims handling process to keep it safe and secure from when it comes in to our possession until its deletion.

Richard Norbury, Head of Quality Assurance: Carpenters Group joined the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) in November 2016 - a demonstration of how important the customer is to our business and our commitment to ensuring their needs are always at the forefront of what we do each day.

Since joining the ICS, Carpenters have devoted over 150 days to their customer service training program resulting in over 60 of our managers and staff successfully completing the program and attaining foundation membership of the ICS. This program resulted in nearly 100 business improvement ideas being generated, all with a focus on improving the customer service we provide and those ideas are continuing to be worked on within cross-departmental project teams.

In 2017 we set up a Customer Resolution team to ensure that the demands of all our customers were being met. This new team is an example of how we are making changes that make a real difference to customers

whose needs were not being fully met by the traditional law firm approach. By providing a wide range of services, both internally and externally, we aim to always be there when our customers need us. Whether this is by empathising with a vulnerable customer, helping them with our online claims portal "MyClaim", or by guiding them through the claims process, our dedicated team of advisors are always on hand to assist no matter how big or small the issue. We achieve this by listening to both external and internal customers. We gather feedback both good and bad.

We listen to all our customers to identify their needs and to ensure that our staff is fully equipped to deal with anything that might arise.

Our Customer Resolution team do not shy away from complaints.

Unlike other businesses, we understand that a complaint is research which should be embraced as free customer feedback. We pride ourselves on our service recovery levels and

we know that customers whose problems have been dealt with efficiently and effectively will become loyal ambassadors of our firm.

As a team, we also help ensure that Carpenters employees are engaged. By use of an internal recognition program, we help our employees feel valued. We aim to create the right environment to maximise motivation, attitude and the customer focus of all team members. We recognise the importance of the "customeremployee satisfaction mirror" and know that happy employees mean great customer service.

As for the future, with further growth in technology, we realise that customer's demands will grow and so we have to stay ahead of the game. By providing our customers with the latest technology and a variety of ways to communicate with us we can be sure that we are looking after and meeting the needs of our diverse client base.

Carpenters Group Supplement 29

Features

Carpenters Group in Scottish growth drive National legal and insurance services provider Carpenters Group has moved its Scottish headquarters into new premises on Blythswood Street, central Glasgow to help accommodate its growth plans.

With a current headcount of 16, the expectation is that this number will double over the next 12-18 months as the company continues to recruit to meet customer demand for its services.

Calum MacGregor, Head of Scottish Operations said: “This is an important moment in the evolution of Carpenters Group in Scotland.

We have been represented in Glasgow since 2015 and due to our expanding customer base we have taken the step to move into new premises in anticipation of further growth in the team here. We continue to be dedicated to providing the best in legal services and support for insurers and their customers across Scotland”. n

“With Scotland’s

long and distinct legal history, we are keen to continue to recruit the best in local talent to meet the unique requirements of our Scottish clients.”

Calum MacGregor

Head of Scottish Operations, Carpenters Group

30 Carpenters Group Supplement

Case Study

Customer care is at the heart of our business

Carpenters Group outline a recent case study, illustrating their efficient and effective claims handling as well as putting the claimant at the forefront.

Our core ethos is to assist those who have suffered a personal injury, especially after a motor accident. In this case, the motorist claimant was hit by an uninsured driver and suffered a physical injury as a result of the accident. The customer was insured by Hastings Insurance and called to inform us of the incident and to request our urgent assistance.

The accident occurred on 17th September 2017. The case was opened immediately and our legal advisor, Dean Denn, was in direct contact with the customer throughout the case.

service. This was reflected in the five-star review that the claimant gave us online:

“I have to say that Carpenters were absolutely superb from the outset. Throughout all my dealings with various members of staff, I found every single one of them to be both helpful and polite. All my queries were dealt with promptly and accurately and I was always kept up to date.

I would definitely recommend using Carpenters and would have no hesitation doing so myself in the future. A big thanks to all the staff who helped with the case.”

Generally, some claims may take longer to process due to the different time frames with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

However, this was not the case as it was resolved within two months. The case handler liaised directly with the client and confirmed what arrangements needed to be made. The client returned all required documents within a week and the case handler made sure it was delivered to the MIB on the same day in order to ensure that liability was accepted within the second week.

The client had attended the appointment with the medical expert and completed physiotherapy on 16th November 2017 and the case was closed on 23rd November 2017.

We carried out a valuation of the client’s injuries and we were able to make sure the client received the compensation that he was entitled to. The client was happy to settle the claim due to a fantastic offer we negotiated for him and thanked Carpenters Group for the seamless processing of the claim and excellent

This is an example of how Carpenters work – we like to act fast, effectively and with the clients best interests at heart. We kept to our schedule and made sure that everything was handled in an efficient manner, which was vital in this case to help the client get the right treatment and achieve peace of mind. n

The claimant.

Visit www.carpentersgroup.co.uk to find out more Carpenters Group Supplement 31

MyClaim from carpenters

TRACK

CHAT

SNAP

your claim status and be notified of any progress

to your Claim Handler via email or call

upload images of car damage and receipts

GR OU P

END-TO-END COM PLETE C LA IMS & L EGA L SOLUTION www.carpentersgroup.co.uk • 0844 249 3844