Insurers liable to pay damages to insureds for late claims payment

For insurance policies entered into after 4 May 2017, insurers could be liable to policyholders for late payment of claims.  It will be an automatically implied term of the policy that sums due from insurers must be paid within a reasonable time.

This change is set out in the Enterprise Bill, which received Royal Assent on 4 May 2016.  It will come into effect for policies, both of insurance and of reinsurance (although reinsurance is less likely to be affected in practice), entered into after 4 May 2017.