29th June 2012

Partnership: Preparing for the Eurovision

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If you thought the UK had become a nanny state, that is nothing to some of the stories emanating from European legislation. Remember the discussions over crooked bananas, water that does not rehydrate and 8 year olds not being able to inflate balloons (albeit reporting was often a little ‘overblown’)? Then we have the EU Gender Directive which, thanks to Test Achats, a Belgian consumer organisation, means insurers can no longer price products differently for men than for women.

Until Test Achats took their case to the European Court, insurers were allowed to use statistical data showing significant differences in the behaviour and mortality of the genders in their benefit calculations. From 21 December 2012, however, that stops. In the car insurance world, young men might see their annual premiums go down despite, on average, being more accident prone. In the world of pensions, women will see their annuity income equalised with men’s, despite evidence suggesting they live longer.

The final changes to the UK Equality Act which bring this into effect have not yet been announced, however, there are a few things to note.

The first point is that the EU has confirmed this will only apply to new contracts. So we are at least spared the issue of re-writing existing business. The second point is that the quite significant price changes for certain insurance policies will attract the attention of the press. At the time of writing, the Mail on Sunday has already started with a piece focusing on the car insurance price rises about to be inflicted on ‘careful lady drivers’.

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