THE INSURANCE ACT 2015
By Caroline Hedley, Associate
The Insurance Act 2015 received Royal Assent on 12 February 2015
and will come into force in August 2016. It applies to business
insurance and, together with the consumer insurance reforms that
came into effect in 2013, represents the greatest change to English
insurance contract law in over 100 years.
We set out below some of the key changes to impact on the
property and liability market.
Utmost good faith/non-disclosure
Under the Act, the insured will remain subject to a duty to
volunteer information however, the scope of that duty will be
limited to what is necessary to make a "fair"
presentation to insurers.
When making disclosure, the insured must carry out a reasonable
search for information. What is reasonable will be a question of
fact in each case and will take into account factors such as the
size, nature and complexity of the business. It is in the
insured's interests to carry out a thorough
