CERA Residential Advisory Service: Advocacy needed

"While the Residential Advisory Service announced by CERA has insurers'
buy-in, advocacy will be needed for buy-in from the insured - and there
is a world of difference between the two," says Cr. Glenn Livingstone.

"The City Council agreed unanimously in July last year that an Insurance
Tribunal and Advocacy service was needed, having listened to the
community and hearing of the intractable situations many were finding
themselves in with their insurance companies. The Council recognised
that ensuring that residents were treated reasonably and fairly by their
insurer was the role of an advocacy service. An advisory service by
definition will not deliver reasonable and fair treatment by insurance
companies. Only advocacy will do that but insurers have not displayed a
willingness to step into the advocacy space and no-one is compelling
them to do it," Livingstone says.

It now falls to the City Council to lead on advocacy Livingstone
maintains and he and other Councillors will be underlining this at this
Thursday's (April 24) Council meeting, where a report on options for
facilitating an Insurance Advocacy Service will be deliberated by the
Council. The report suggests two options - either the development of an
advocacy service by the Council or outsourcing the service, through
either the calling of expressions of interest in provision of an
advocacy model or running a grant process for not-for-profit
community-based organisations to deliver such a service.

Cr. Livingstone says it is important to keep moving forward with any
moves to provide insurance resolution for the community. "It is
important that we are solutions-driven. We need to ensure residents
receive quality advice through the advisory service and that they are
treated fairly and reasonably through an advocacy service."

As well as pushing for an advocacy service at Council level, Livingstone
will be seeking additional funding for such a service and continuing
with insurance meetings in the community, following the success of an
inaugural meeting where residents heard of Policy-holders being entitled
to $2000 stress payments by IAG, Tower and Lumley.

"Information, knowledge and advocacy is power and we need to empower our
residents over insurance issues, so to speed-up the social and economic
recovery of Christchurch," Livingstone says.

ENDS

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