General insurance disputes rose 19% last financial year, according to figures released today by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Some 10,588 general insurance disputes were received, making up 29% of the total and hitting levels last seen in 2011/12 when the numbers were affected by major natural disasters.

Total disputes received were up 7% to 34,095, the FOS annual review reveals.

Lead Ombudsman General Insurance John Price believes the increase “was driven by industry-specific issues in general insurance including higher claims, corporate restructuring and other organisational changes that may have affected insurers’ internal dispute resolution”.

“We have been discussing the increase in dispute numbers with the industry at open forums throughout the year,” he said.

“A number of insurers have been continuing to adjust to our new process and we engaged with industry sectors this year to ensure they are making appropriate changes in how they handle disputes lodged with FOS.”

Some 6858 general insurance disputes were accepted, with almost a third relating to comprehensive motor vehicle insurance and a quarter involving home building insurance.

The main issues were denial of claim (20%), claim amount (19%) and denial of claim – exclusion/condition (17%).

Overall, FOS reduced the average time taken to resolve disputes by more than a third, following the introduction of new processes.

Disputes were resolved in an average of 62 days in 2015/16 compared with 95 days in 2014/15.