Insurance

Background

A key tool for the mitigation of risks faced by an organisation is the use of insurance. The States of Jersey (the States) use both external insurance and self-insurance via an Insurance Fund to mitigate risk. The insurance function is managed by a small team supported by external brokers and advisors.

Scope

This review evaluated the effectiveness of insurance arrangements including:

• governance and oversight
• identifying and quantifying risks that might have financial consequences
• tendering for external insurance and ensuring that insurance cover is maintained; and
• identifying and managing insurance and self-insurance claims.

The review has not extended to:

• a follow up of the recommendations made in the previous C&AG report on risk management
• the detailed insurance arrangements in place within controlled entities; and
• the operation of the Health Insurance Fund.

Conclusions

The States have recognised that they face significant challenges in developing their arrangements for insurance and have drafted an ambitious and forward-looking Insurance Strategy and Improvement Plan. This is a timely and much needed document.

The effective implementation of the Insurance Strategy and Improvement Plan will be dependent on ensuring that the insurance function has the capacity to deliver it and is supported by stronger governance and oversight arrangements for insurance.

The focus of the strategy is on developing an improvement programme to address key challenges. As a result, it does not include some areas that would normally be included in a strategy for a more mature insurance function. As the planned improvements are implemented, the strategy will need to be developed to ensure that it continues to be up to date and relevant.

As part of the strategy implementation, the Government of Jersey plans to consider whether to establish a captive insurance company. It is important that in considering whether to establish a captive insurance company, the States take account of the benefits that can be obtained from improving existing arrangements as well as an assessment of the lessons learned from the recent insurance procurement exercise.