Wording Review
We previously advised that the wording review process would probably be conducted in two stages, the first dealing with non contentious matters, and the second addressing those that were more complex and in need of detailed consideration.
Stage 1
Unsurprisingly, the list of issues falling into the first stage has dramatically reduced – discussion of various topics led us to the conclusion that many things with a veneer of simplicity were far from that.
We then collated the distilled list of issues and distributed these as part of a presentation given by Tim Thompson, Sue Willmott and Gerald Williams at the CILA Conference in September. We have received no feedback from the conference (or thereafter) disagreeing with the inclusion of any of these matters in a stage one document, and we are now releasing this list as a draft for comment - please see the link below.
Please have a look at this and let us have any comments/positive criticism by Friday 23 October. We will subsequently issue a formal CILA report covering these points.
It is worth stressing again what the objective is here. We want to identify recurring difficulties that claims highlight, and to identify what might usefully be changed. Whilst the attached document in some cases suggests one solution, our final report will give options. We are not intending to produce a prescriptive document.
Following consideration of any feedback to this initial document, we will seek to issue the formal report in November/December.
Stage 2
The June seminar mandated the CILA to drive the main part of the review forwards, and whilst that will be the case, there is a consensus that the tried and tested structure that the IIL has in place to produce reports is ideally suited to assist. Significant progress has been made in this respect, and we are now in the process of finalising the scope of the review (which could range from specific aspect to the full wording) that will be undertaken.
It is likely that a physical report will be available to buy, with a free of charge electronic version also available. The IIL have traditionally produced books that are sold to recover costs; the CILA wants to also issue the report free of charge electronically to all interested parties. The CILA will be underwriting IIL costs incurred in producing this report (recognising that the availability of a free of charge copy may depress physical book sales).
To help finalise the scope of the review, it would be useful to have any and everybody’s thoughts as to issues that such a review should address, micro or macro – please can we have these by Friday the 30 October, following which we will finalise scope and can then commence the work. We are presuming that those providing feedback by the end of this month are most likely to be the people wanting to participate in the review once it starts.
We very much look forward to receiving all comments in respect of both stages of the review.
Damian Glynn
Chairman
BI SIG Committee