When a claim event occurs there will be some time before it is reported or notified to the insurer – this is known as a claim reporting delay. The insurer will incur numerous claims in a calendar year, and each of those claims will have a claim delay.
The reporting delay is the time from the event occurrence through to the time that the insurance company is notified of the event. There may be delays due to:
- the time between an event occurring and the condition emerging
e.g. for industrial diseases such as asbestos or from environmental pollution. - the time taken for the policyholder to advise the insurer – possibly because
- the amount involved is quite small.
- they do not realise that there is cause for claiming