By bizn_fun 
Millions of people across the UK take out insurance policies they hope they will never need to draw on.
Some 22 million home insurance policies were in force last year, with consumers paying more than £7bn in premiums. During the year, consumers made almost 900,000 claims, with insurers paying out a total of £3.2bn.
There were more than 6.8 million travel insurance policies, with premiums of £1.2bn paid last year. Some 600,000 claims led to payouts of more £400m.
But Which? highlighted that acceptance of claims and subsequent payouts were much less likely among home and travel insurance than motor and pet policies.
The FCA found that in 2024, 99% of motor claims were accepted, compared with 80% of standalone single trip travel claims and 74% of home content-only claims.
The regulator said that this, in part, reflected the lower levels of understanding among consumers of what their insurance policy covered.
Graeme Reynolds, director of competition at the FCA, said the regulator would “expand our existing workplan” to ensure improvements to the claims process and consumer understanding of their cover.
“We will continue to hold firms and their senior leaders to account for making improvements, to help build trust and make sure people get fair value insurance,” he said.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI), which represents companies, said the improvements demanded by the FCA were “a top priority” for the sector.