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Law360, London (December 15, 2020, 2:16 PM GMT ) British home and car insurers have said they will extend their support for customers struggling with the COVID-19 crisis to March 2021 as the pandemic continues to keep most of the country locked down.
The Association of British Insurers, a trade body representing the sector, said on Monday that home and car insurance companies have said they will extend programs to assist drivers and those working from home until March, despite plans to end the support programs in December.
"The pandemic continues to cause significant disruption and worry, and the further extension of these temporary pledges reflects the commitment of insurers to helping customers as we battle our way out of the crisis," Laura Hughes, manager of general insurance at the association, said.
The ABI said the extra help could be "of significant help to many of the U.K.'s 17 million home insurance policyholders and 27 million motor insurance customers."
The extension will also mean that the measures will have been in place for a full year when they expire in March.
Insurers have said that office workers who are working from home do not need to contact their insurer to extend their home cover. Drivers who need to use their cars to get to work, or those who are delivering essentials to vulnerable people, will also not need to contact their insurers to extend their motor insurance.
Hughes also said that insurers have paid more than £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in claims linked to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
But insurers have also come under fire for their handling of the crisis. A dispute over decisions by insurers to withhold payment under some business interruption policies led to a battle in the High Court.
The Financial Conduct Authority brought a High Court action against eight insurers with a representative sample of 21 policy wordings in July in order to get clarity for companies forced to close during the first U.K.-wide lockdown, many of which had cover that guarded against business interruption caused by an infectious disease outbreak.
A judgment in the test case in September was largely in favor of policyholders, but insurers appealed directly to the U.K. Supreme Court. A final ruling is expected in January, the FCA said last week.
The FCA on Friday published a guide to help policyholders file claims under their business interruption insurance for losses sustained during the U.K.'s COVID-19 lockdown ahead of the final ruling.
The watchdog also said in November that it will hold senior bosses of Lloyd's of London insurers directly to account if it finds evidence that customers with claims from the pandemic have been treated unfairly.
--Additional reporting by Martin Croucher. Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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