Yesterday the 5th Annual Mansfield Awards for Claims Excellence were held as a virtual event due to the lockdowns in New South Wales, ACT and Victoria.

If you missed the event, it can be viewed at: 

First up, I and all at the Mansfields and LMI wish to thank our long standing sponsors Steadfast Group Limited and icare. The organisations were represented at the Awards by Nick Cook (Steadfast) and Richard Harding (icare). Thank you gentlemen. As a token of our sincere appreciation for your support we have commissioned a special award. I only wish I could present this to you in person. 

A special thanks also to our key note speaker Fred Hawke of Clayton Utz. Fred and Clayton Utz have been very helpful in assisting in formalising the Mansfield Foundation which will ensure that the proceeds from the not for profit Mansfield Awards continues to be utilised for purely worthy chartable purposes. 

Congratulations to all the Finalists and Winners this year. You all deserved to be recognised for your excellent work in claims. For the record, the finalist and winners were: 

The Mansfield Awards 2021 Winners


Personal Lines


Finalists: Allianz Australia Insurance Limited, Auto & General Services Pty Ltd, RAA Insurance Limited, RACV Insurance Limited

Winner: Allianz Australia Insurance Limited


SME – Property and Casualty


Finalists: Ansvar Insurance Limited, Hollard Commercial Insurance, Insurance Australia Group Limited, Vero

Winner: Vero


Corporate – Property and Casualty


Finalists: FM Global / Affiliated FM, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company Limited, Liberty Specialty Markets, Zurich Insurance Australia Limited

Winner: Zurich Insurance Australia Limited

Specialty


Finalists: GT Insurance, Liberty Specialty Markets, NTI Limited, Woodina Underwriting Agency

Winner: NTI Limited


The Gold Mansfield


Finalists: Allianz Australia Insurance Limited, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company Limited, NTI Limited, Vero, Zurich Insurance Australia Limited

WinnerVero

Each finalist and winner should have received the artwork of the badge confirming that they were a finalist or winner, and the physical trophies will be dispatched shortly. Similarly all companies that achieved a 4, 4.5 or 5 Star rating for their claims will also receive an electronic badge confirming this, which can be used to promote their success as we all try and move the emphasis of insurance from price to protection. 

This year, 39.7% improved their rating, 38.4% remained steady with only 21.9% falling. This is very pleasing to see and is in line with one of the principle aims of the Mansfield Awards to promote positive change in the industry.

Every year after the awards I and the team at LMI get bombarded with questions about how the awards are run, how their firm can be nominated and the like.

While this is documented on both the MansfieldAwards.com and ClaimsComparison.com websites, I thought it would assist if I did a short video that explains it all. Here is a link to that video. 

As I mention in my part of the ceremony, there will be an additional award, The Purple Mansfield as from 2022. This is something that I have wanted for a number of years. It is a difficult one for on the one hand I feel it very important that we recognise situations where a company or individual has gone above and beyond because it is the right thing to do. The difficulty is that more often than not it is not publicized as it could lead to others far less deserving trying to exploit the situation. It will also be used to acknowledge situations where an individual who is leaving the industry has devoted their working life to claims within an insurance company, a broking house, a claims management company or loss adjusting firm, or a combination of any, and has demonstrated the principles espoused by Lord Mansfield.

This means that there may be more than one Purple Mansfield in any one year or none at all. Unlike the other awards where there is no nominations, this award will require a nomination and an independent panel of 3, two of whom will not be from LMI will judge the nominations. More on this will be released in the first quarter of 2022. 

Thanks again to everyone who was involved in this years awards, especially our sponsors, guest speaker and the production team from LMI Media. 

We all hope that this will return as a live event in 2022. Until then, please stay safe and well.