PI Scheme Update 2023-24 Ireland

brokers need to ask some simple questions about the insurers they choose to work with:

Are they here for the longer-term and is that evident from their structure and resourcing? Do they actually understand the risk? Are they providing an appropriate and sustainable specification of cover? What’s their track-record on claims handling? Are their behaviours consistent with those of a prudent underwriter?

If the past few years has demonstrated anything, it’s the importance of making good decisions on insurer selection, trying to build sustainability into your PI programme and ensuring that you are well placed to withstand whatever the future holds. And what about the underlying risk? The future is far from certain. It’s remarkable to reflect upon the last few years – inflation, interest rate rises, the UK’s exit from the European Union, war in Europe and the Middle East, unprecedented challenges on climate change, the Grenfell tragedy (and the lessons that are yet to be fully understood), changes in legislation and the introduction of the Building Safety Act, which will be of relevance to those working in the UK. These issues all raise serious questions for insurers around the likely impact on construction professionals. As we have reported on before, particular uncertainty surrounds the outcome of Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s report into fire at Grenfell Tower and what this might mean for the construction and the insurance sectors. His findings on the failings of the construction industry, Government and the manufacturers of materials will do much to shape the legal landscape against which the extensive backlog of claims relating to the fire safety of buildings will be litigated. What shape this landscape takes is a key reason that the majority of the litigation around fire safety issues is yet to commence in earnest. Only once the report has been published, digested and the first cases start to work their way through the system, will we understand the likely impact. In isolation, the uncertainty surrounding this point alone would mean that we need to do more than just wait for the market cycle to turn, but when considering the other features we’ve experienced in recent years that’s why we feel we need to focus on tackling the underlying risk. The ‘green shoots’ of an uplift in PI market capacity is welcome but it’s a function of the usual market cycle and the underwriting actions taken in recent years. Critically, those green shoots