FCA Publishes 2025 GI Value Measures Data, Flagging Home and Travel Claims Outcomes and Data Quality

Key Takeaways

• The FCA has released its fourth annual general insurance value measures dataset (January to December 2025).
• It shows persistently high claims complaint rates and low acceptance rates in home insurance, plus sharply rising travel claims costs.
• The FCA will use the data to focus supervision, so firms with significant or recurring outlier indicators should expect greater scrutiny under PROD 4 and the Consumer Duty.

Deep Dive

The FCA has released its fourth annual general insurance value measures dataset (January to December 2025). It shows persistently high claims complaint rates and low acceptance rates in home insurance, plus sharply rising travel claims costs. The FCA will use the data to focus supervision, so firms with significant or recurring outlier indicators should expect greater scrutiny under PROD 4 and the Consumer Duty.

Key data points drive the likely focus areas. Claims complaints as a percentage of claims registered are high in home insurance (7-13%) and travel insurance (5-6%), against 0-6% for most other products. Home claims acceptance rates are 62-71%, versus 83-86% for travel and 99% for motor, though the FCA cautions that firms report home acceptance data inconsistently and has set up an industry working group on this. Average home claims payouts rose 17% for buildings and contents. Travel claims costs as a proportion of premium rose to 44-48% from 31-37%, with premiums up 12% and claims paid up 47%. Claims cost ratios across products range from 17% (wedding and party) to 68% (healthcare cash plan). Motor's ratio rose from 54% to 59% as premiums fell 7%. GAP (Stand-alone) fell from 104% to 53% following earlier FCA interventions, and the FCA says these figures still should be used with caution. Firms should also note that the FCA links this work to its July 2025 retail insurance publication, the Which? super complaint response and its Regulatory Priorities: Insurance report.

Data quality is a notable compliance issue. Firms must submit complete and accurate data by 28 February each year. This year the FCA contacted 35 firms during validation, and about half resubmitted. The published data reflects a snapshot taken on 5 May 2026. Three firms updated data after the snapshot, and the FCA manually corrected two 2024 datapoints (Before the event legal expenses acceptance rate, and home buildings and contents average claims payout) after one firm disclosed a material error. The FCA is following up with firms where reporting needs to improve and considering broader options to strengthen data quality. Reporting applies to UK retail products where written premiums exceed GBP £400,000 and policies in force exceed 3,000, and firm-level data is published where that threshold is met. Legal expenses and vehicle breakdown insurance are excluded from claims cost metrics under PS20/9.

Recommended actions: (1) benchmark your firm-level published metrics (claims frequency, acceptance, payout, complaints, claims cost ratio) against aggregate ranges and identify outliers; (2) document root-cause analysis and remediation for any outliers, especially in home and travel claims handling and complaints; (3) refresh fair value assessments and board or product governance reporting under PROD 4 and the Consumer Duty, considering the factors the FCA notes (business mix, product age, policy duration, pricing changes, inflation); (4) review controls over value measures data definitions, validation and sign-off, particularly home claims acceptance reporting, and ensure resubmission procedures are clear; (5) engage with the industry working group where relevant and prepare for supervisory inquiries.

Risk implications: Outlier firms face elevated supervisory intervention, as seen with GAP insurance, where firms paused sales until fair value was shown. Inaccurate reporting creates regulatory and reputational exposure, and data limitations such as time lags and inconsistent reporting mean firms should document context rather than rely on the metrics alone.

Source: Financial Conduct Authority