Gender-Specific Insurance

RealityUsedToBeAFriendOfMine

I've had a life insurance policy with Aviva (previously Friends Life) since May 2012.

I'd noticed that my wife's premium is significantly cheaper than mine and spoke to Aviva in 2015, who informed me that my policy was more expensive due to me being male.

What they didn't tell me was there had been an EU Directive in March 2011 ruling a ban on such policies.

This was made effective in UK Law in December 2012.

So Aviva were willingly offering gender-specific insurance in the full knowledge that these were about to become illegal in UK Law.

The policy has continued to renew on an annual basis and at no time have Aviva come forward to tell me that they were renewing a now illegal policy.

I spoke again with Aviva in April 2022 and this time they informed me that gender-specific policies are illegal and that they suggested that I “shop around” for a new policy, but at no point in this call did they offer an alternative policy.

It was at this point that I raised a complaint against Aviva. They rejected my complaint on the basis that they had told me that the policy was gender-specific in 2015 and they were "unable to alter the policy and this still remains the same".

I looked into the regulations around insurance renewals. It is stated that a renewal of a policy “will typically result in the issue of a new contract of insurance, not an extension of the period of the existing one”.

My question here is, does an insurance renewal constitute a new contract, meaning that if there has been a legislation change since the policy was issued, then the subsequent renewals are all unlawful?

I raised a complaint with the Ombudsman and their findings were that I had waited too long to make a complaint because more than 7 years have elapsed since Aviva told me about my policy being gender-specific, although Aviva did not use this language (they said it was because I’m male) and did not tell me that the law had changed since the policy was introduced.

My counter to that was the clock should not have started until April 2022, because that is when Aviva informed me that gender-specific pricing is illegal, but they repeatedly ignored this when I mentioned it. I therefore think that I am within the 7 year time period.

It feels like the Ombudsman is taking the side of an insurance company that is happy to exploit its customers.

The strange thing is that Ombudsman says that it is happy to look at Discrimination, but it appears that this when the insurer informed the customer, not when the customer has actually found out that this is illegal.

I’ve even raised a complaint against the Ombudsman for not considering a key piece of evidence in my case and that was swatted away in record time, as they concluded that this was outside their remit.

Has anyone else come across this issue with gender-specific pricing of insurance premiums? I think that there could be a can of worms here.

dunstonh

What they didn't tell me was there had been an EU Directive in March 2011 ruling a ban on such policies.

Why would they tell you that?  It is irrelevant.

This was made effective in UK Law in December 2012.

So Aviva were willingly offering gender-specific insurance in the full knowledge that these were about to become illegal in UK Law.

Correct.    Or in other words, they provided a policy based on the rules and laws in place at the time.

The policy has continued to renew on an annual basis and at no time have Aviva come forward to tell me that they were renewing a now illegal policy.

Are you sure?  I didn't think Friends offered yearly renewable term assurance.  I don't recall seeing one available from them back then.   Although maybe they had one for certain distribution channels.  Can you give the name of your product?

I spoke again with Aviva in April 2022 and this time they informed me that gender-specific policies are illegal and that they suggested that I “shop around” for a new policy, but at no point in this call did they offer an alternative policy.

Aviva is a product provider.  Known as a manufacturer.   They are not a retailer (bar certain subsidiary companies in the group).  They are also not advisers.

It was at this point that I raised a complaint against Aviva. They rejected my complaint on the basis that they had told me that the policy was gender-specific in 2015 and they were "unable to alter the policy and this still remains the same".

That would be the expected outcome as the ruling is at the point of sale.

I looked into the regulations around insurance renewals. It is stated that a renewal of a policy “will typically result in the issue of a new contract of insurance, not an extension of the period of the existing one”.

My question here is, does an insurance renewal constitute a new contract, meaning that if there has been a legislation change since the policy was issued, then the subsequent renewals are all unlawful?

I suspect you don't have renewable life assurance.  It is quite a rare product to have.  It's possible but unusual.  Normally, they are either guaranteed for the term or reviewable.  it tended only to be a couple of niche players that had a yearly renewable.

Anyway, it doesn't matter as YRTs are still the original policy being extended and extensions retain the rules in place at the point of purchase.  That can give some positives but it can give some negatives. 

My counter to that was the clock should not have started until April 2022, because that is when Aviva informed me that gender-specific pricing is illegal, but they repeatedly ignored this when I mentioned it. I therefore think that I am within the 7 year time period.

Your counter is flawed. Aviva are not your advisers.   They are not required to advise you of things and you are not paying them to do so.  No contract between you and them to provide advice exists.    

    It feels like the Ombudsman is taking the side of an insurance company that is happy to exploit its customers.

The FOS is an indpendent arbiter of complaints.   Another point of view is that your complaint is bordering on the vexatious and has no grounds.

The strange thing is that Ombudsman says that it is happy to look at Discrimination, but it appears that this when the insurer informed the customer, not when the customer has actually found out that this is illegal.

If it was illegal, you would go to the police and they would investigate.  Your claim is that it is unlawful. Not illegal.   However, your problem is that a) the FOS is not there to test your legal opinion, b) you left it too long within the law and c) your assumptions are flawed (which is my opinion).

You haven't found out it is illegal or unlawful.  You have a mistaken belief only.

It is quite clear that it only applies to new contracts.  Not extensions under existing ones.  

Has anyone else come across this issue with gender-specific pricing of insurance premiums? I think that there could be a can of worms here.

You are wrong.  There is no can of worms.    At the point of sale, there was no law banning gender discrimination.    You entered into the policy at that point and only at that point.

However, you are free to take Aviva to court and ask the courts to provide a ruling on that if you feel this strongly about it.    Ultimately, the contract is what the contract is unless a court rules differently.

DullGreyGuy

RealityUsedToBeAFriendOfMine said:

So Aviva were willingly offering gender-specific insurance in the full knowledge that these were about to become illegal in UK Law.

The policy has continued to renew on an annual basis and at no time have Aviva come forward to tell me that they were renewing a now illegal policy.

The law has an effective date anything done before that isnt governed by that law. With this particular legislation 21 months notice was given to allow insurers time to adjust their models etc. Even if they were ready before the due date there was no need to implement until then. 

You bought before the law change and so they were legal at the time.

Are you sure the policy renewed? Life is normally written as long term insurance not an annual policy.