Who knows about the insurance industry?

Mrs M was involved in a bump (coach hit her) - I reported it initially via my broker (they had a Claims Line - that turned out to be a no win no fee set of shysters). Anyhow, the following day she is inundated with calls from accident companies. This is the third time I’ve been in contact with my broker about an accident and each time the following day we’re hassled by callers.

I’ve taken this up with the broker and they say it’s nothing to do with them - which seems to be stretching credibility.

I intend on taking it up with the ICO but they’re inundated (no surprise) with GDPR stuff...

Is there anywhere else in the insurance “systems” where this info could be leaking?

Don't work in insurance but have some limited knowledge of the law around referrals.

In the bad old days, insurers were able to lawfully refer your details if you had an accident to such companies. Some commentators think that practice actually led to a 40% increase in insurance premiums to offset the cost of personal injury claims from whiplash alone. Some Police forces even used to do this.

Then in 2013 the law changed to ban referral fees in personal injury cases. The ban on the payment of referral fees in personal injury cases was introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). The ban came into effect on 1 April 2013.

Although referral for fees should have stopped, some insurers business models may still allow such referrals through 'reasonable hospitality'. In the insurance forms signed is there anything in the small print that shows express permission to share has been given?

that's about the limit of my knowledge.

Broker should be registered with the FCA, it's worth ringing them and explain what has happened.

Cool - thanks, both. I have no smoking gun but the correlation of this must be too much to be coincidence

don't forget GDPR! they are not aloud to pre tick boxes you must opt in! small print may be a grey area but i would guess its not in the spirit of GDPR

I can help with this, or more accurately my wife can who is a compliance manager within insurance. Below is written by her:

Insurers are allowed to pass on your information to third parties if its necessary for the operation of the contract but this list can be extensive as it could include previous insurers, loss adjuster, assessors etc. However they are not allowed to sell you information on as this would be outside of the purpose they are supposed to be using this information for. It is highly unlikely to be the insurance brokers themselves (they are generally too small for it to be worth the risk of doing something which could incur such big fines)

My advice would be to let the ICO know (not the FCA, as the FCA are only interested in whether they are providing adequate advice and misselling etc not how they handle your data, that is definitely an ico job) The ICO have openly admitted that they will have little patience with insurers who don’t play by the new GDPR rules so the more people who report their complaints the more likely they are to Investigate.

If you were feeling particularly dogmatic about it you can make a request for a report on who your information was provided to, this can take up to a month (or more if they have reason to delay your response) but they can’t refuse to do it. It’s within your rights, your right of access.

If it’s a personal number (not a business one) the company called you could add that number to the the TPS report, if you get a call to that number 28 days after you have registered and you know the name of the company that called you You can make a complaint to them, this report also goes to the ICO to contribute to their investigations into companies which have numerous reports.

I know it’s not a quick fix but hopefully it helps.

Cool - that’s really helpful, TV. Please thank Mrs TV