The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) says claim-handling delays were the major cause of general insurance complaints last year, and the issue extended beyond disputes arising from flooding and other catastrophes.

“There does seem to be delay issues across the system, across all types of claims and products in insurance, so it is not just natural disaster-related,” Lead Ombudsman Insurance Emma Curtis told a forum on Friday.

Resourcing issues, covid and international events affecting supplies have all affected insurers, she says.

The top five complaints by issue last calendar year were claim handing delays (7114), claim amount (4658), denial of claim – exclusion condition (4165), denial of claim (2343) and service quality (1899).

AFCA received 23,934 general insurance complaints in total, up 52% from a year earlier. For the financial year to date there’s been a 65% increase in complaints.

Home building (8799), comprehensive motor (6879), consumer credit insurance (1590), home contents (1477) and travel (1064), make up the top five complaint areas by product type.

AFCA is also in the process of resolving around 300 pandemic-related business interruption complaints after they were put on hold pending the outcome of two industry legal test cases. That process concluded in October when the High Court declined to hear further appeals.

“Pleasingly, we’ve resolved about a third of those already,” Ms Curtis told the industry forum.

Determinations will provide a guide on how AFCA will be approaching the issues and the various wordings in policies, but Ms Curtis says AFCA is also be mindful of class actions filed that may be relevant to complaints lodged.

See ANALYSIS.