Life insurers in Australia are being urged by the Life Code Compliance Committee to do more when it comes to supporting those facing domestic violence.
Authors of the Supporting Victims of Family and Domestic Violence Report, state that life insurance policies can be used as a form of economic abuse and coercive control.
For example, it states a life policy could be taken out by an abuser without the knowledge of the victim, followed by threats to kill them for financial gain.
The inability to split joint life policies without the consent of both parties could also create a mechanism for post-separation abuse…
The inability to split joint life policies without the consent of both parties could also create a mechanism for post-separation abuse, state the report’s writers.
“Being transparent about the support available can help build a customer’s confidence to engage [with insurers], and help them feel assured that their life insurer genuinely cares about their wellbeing,” states the report.
“Openly sharing information about family domestic violence support can help reduce the stigma associated with such situations.”
During a check of 16 life insurance websites, researchers found all but one had published policies, although they weren’t always easy to find – some required a search of the site to find the page.
Researchers also found seven of the 16 life insurers it reviewed had their policies in PDF format, limiting accessibility for some customers. Authors state PDFs can be hard to read on some devices.
The Life Code Committee says domestic violence policies must help customers to understand the support available, and how it can be accessed. This includes:
- The purpose of the policy
- A description of the support available
- How to access the support (providing multiple contact channels where possible)
At a minimum, all information detailing FDV support should be:
- Easy to read and understand
- Framed with the customer in mind
- Accessible from the home page of the website, including by using keywords such as ‘domestic violence’ or ‘family violence’ in the website’s internal search engine
Click here or on the image below to read the full report (PDF).