President's blog

It’s been a catastrophic past few days with storms raging through Europe and the earthquake in Chile, which followed the earthquake in Haiti in January. The death toll in Chile looks to be much lower than that of Haiti due to the nature of the building construction. I am sure that Insurers and Loss Adjusters will be noting the significant difference which is down to the differing building structures and the fact that Chile was more prepared for this type of event.

The scenes of devastation in France, Spain and Portugal are disturbing and will, no doubt, make us all reflect on the destruction to lives caused by such events. Last week Malcolm Hyde, the Executive Director (Technical) attended a seminar hosted by the ABI where the final report by Lancaster University on the effects of the flooding in Hull were discussed. The report runs into over 170 pages but the main points are summarized in the Executive Summary and there are some valuable lessons to be learned by us all. The full report can be obtained by following this link http://www.cila.co.uk/news-events/news/after-rain-learning-lessons-flood... .

At the CILA we continue to make progress with the learning material for the Certificate level examination, we will shortly be releasing details of how to become a Diploma level member of the CILA and our Web Editor, Rob Didcock, has just about found time to find a new home, so I wish him well in his new abode!

The travel gremlins have struck again, before Christmas it was the roads, yesterday on the way in to CILA it was the train. I was one of the commuters stuck behind the train operated by South West Trains that caught fire. I have to say 3 hours in an unheated train with no power in a cutting and sub-zero temperatures outside doesn't give you a good start to the day - Happy New Year Mr. President!

Following the presentation we did at Cockermouth, which was very well received, we have been asked to give one at Workington and subject to roads being open and passable that is now scheduled for 19 January 2010.

The new year appears to have started with many adjusters slithering around on block ice to get to burst pipe claims as National Grid are giving out dire warnings of gas shortages for industry, which is likely to affect gas fired power stations if the Siberian blast continues to prolong the coldest winter for several years. As all of this is happening at the Institute we are trying to get papers assembled for a council meeting in 11 days time and doing early planning for this year's technical conference in September 2010.

With a major international conference taking place on climate change it was inevitable that Loss Adjusters would be thrown into a spell of freezing conditions, mayhem on the roads due to snow and ice and of course the odd burst pipe claim. Last night driving from Manchester to London I managed the first 180 miles in less than 3 hours, and then the next 11 miles took 2 and a half. No salt or grit but lots of black ice and gridlocked motorways – oh joy!

Over the last few weeks we have had a number of Accreditation for Chartered Status panels, there have been some significant successes, and I am delighted to welcome the successful candidates to the world of Chartered status. I am also most grateful to the panel members who have put themselves out to sit on the panels.

The Examinations Committee has organised additional training for would be ACS panel members and we have had a tremendous response to this, this is highly encouraging. All examination papers from the examinations that took place in October were marked on schedule and the moderation process has commenced. I am reliably informed that the final results should be presented to the Council of the CILA in mid January.

I and the Development Director went to Belfast to join 50+ members there for their annual lunch. It was great to see such an active loss adjusting community; we had a superb day.

I and the deputy President joined the CILA Secretariat for a couple of hours during the week for a Christmas lunch. I can assure all members that whilst I saw no evidence of reindeer I did see CILA’s own Father Christmas that day and “he” handed out gifts to those who had been well behaved all year…

Finally I wish all CILA members and your families a very happy Christmas and a peaceful, prosperous new year - Merry Christmas!

Having agreed to the participation of the Executive Director (Technical) in an ABI Market Wide Exercise on flooding I had not wholly expected the exercise to develop into the real thing. Participation by the CILA members in the Cumbria floods has been magnificent. I spent the early part of this week with the Director of General Insurance and Health at the ABI, Nick Starling, explaining to senior Local Authority officials the role of Loss Adjusters, and providing an understanding of how Loss Adjusters would develop coordinated responses to assist communities in their plight.

To me the warmth of our welcome by senior Council Officials was both gratifying and heartening. The message that our members are working so hard, often away from home and just before Christmas has not gone unnoticed by the most senior Insurance officials, Local Authority Officers or by Government Ministers. In other words your work is being spoken about in the Cabinet Offices, Insurance Company Board Rooms, those charged with putting communities back together and by those directly affected.

The CILA transformation continues, we have had considerable interest in the accreditation of our examinations, and significant progress has been made in the development of our Certificate level qualification. And amongst all this I am sure I can detect the odd aroma of mince pies and the illumination of Christmas lights…

Sitting in my weekly meeting with the secretariat I admit to being taken aback when the Development Director asked my Deputy what he might have in mind for his CILA Annual Lunch. Surely my year could not be moving that fast.

It made me think what have I achieved so far…Well having been in post for a little over one month I have commissioned an overhaul of each exam syllabus, sought input from widest possible sources as part of that review and verified the considerable progress that is being made on the learning material for the introduction of our entry level examinations.

I am delighted that my interviews with Insurance Times and the Post Magazine went well and were both published shortly after the Technical Conference. These interviews set out my vision for the future of the Institute.

I have also had the pleasure of my CILA Lunch, steered several committee meetings ranging from international matters to catching up on how CILA members might be called in to assist in the event of a terrorist attack. Further I have seen the fledgling new Claims Management SIG develop and was heartened by their enthusiasm for the institute and their professionalism.

It’s a start and I promise to keep you updated.