ABI confirms £11.7m investment in IFED

The ABI has confirmed that it will extend its funding of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for at least another three years.

The £11.7m investment will allow IFED to expand its operations and hire more detectives to the 38-strong unit, which is dedicated to tackling insurance fraud in England and Wales.

Since being formed in 2012, IFED has made 430 arrests and secured court convinctions and police cautions for 223 insurance fraudsters.

City of London police commissioner Adrian Leppard said: “Since IFED’s birth we have time and again delivered on our pledge to make England and Wales a more hostile environment to perpetrate insurance fraud. With every scam investigated, arrest made and conviction secured we have made it more difficult for fraudsters to operate and sent a strong message that insurance fraud is a crime and that there are serious consequences for those who commit it.

“The decision by members of the Association of British Insurers to extend and increase IFED’s funding over the next three years provides further industry recognition that we have delivered both for the insurance industry and for the public. This important, new, funding agreement will allow us to make an even greater impact in the future by expanding our team and working with different insurers covering a mix of markets and products.”

LV= managing director and ABI Financial Crime Committee chair John O’Roarke said: “The increased investment from ABI members in the IFED reinforces the industry’s zero tolerance approach to insurance fraud, and recognition of the key role IFED has to play in tackling this problem. The insurance industry remains fully committed to working collaboratively to combat insurance fraud and protecting its honest customers. Anyone tempted to commit insurance fraud should be left in no doubt that they will be caught and face a very real possibility of serving a custodial sentence.”

IFED has taken its fight against insurance fraud to living rooms across the country through the BBC series Claimed and Shamed, which introduced viewers to the unit and showed the consequences to committing this type of crime.

The team acts with operational independence while working closely with the insurance industry, taking on investigations from insurer referrals and generating its own work.