The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) is seeking researchers to conduct consumer studies on general insurance product disclosures.

It is part of an action plan to improve product disclosure statements, after a report commissioned by ICA concluded they are poorly understood.

“It is intended the research will be used as a shared industry resource and will inform individual insurer trialling of new and innovative disclosure tools and techniques,” ICA says in a public tender document.

“The overall aim of the research is to better enable insurers to engage consumers, to facilitate informed decision-making.”

Researchers tendering for the job are required to outline methodologies to achieve two key goals: establishing a disclosure performance benchmark, and determining pre-purchase consumer behaviours.

Home building insurance is the priority for the research, followed by motor vehicle, travel, home contents, personal sickness and accident, and pet insurance.

ICA wants a consultation on a draft report in October, followed by a final version in November.

In the ICA-commissioned report, published in December, the Effective Disclosure Taskforce made 16 recommendations, including market research as the basis for improving consumer understanding of products.

The closing date for the tender is May 4. Find more information here.