Briefing: Summer set for a season of hot topics

By Jon Guy 

The summer months have traditionally been described by the media as ’silly season’.

With children off school for the summer and many workers heading for annual holidays, solid stories become difficult to find and, in many ways, a lot of industries take time off.

There’s often little or no M&A activity, no major product launches and few senior recruitment announcements until things return to normal in early September.

However, 2024 is shaping up to be anything but silly in the coming months.

Next week, the UK goes to the polls and, unless there is a monumental change in voter intention, it is likely we will have a new Labour government that may wield a thumping majority.

A new sheriff in town

A victorious Labour government would want to hit the ground running – and the economy is first on its to do list.

We can expect a raft of announcements in the coming two to three months on how it plans to boost growth and the outlook for business.

SMEs will likely be at the heart of those plans, but the City, banks and insurers will be holding their breath as to how Labour sees them.

Will they be seen as vital to supporting the intended growth and encouraged to offer products to support the economy? Or are they set to be viewed as those big businesses that have had it too good for too long and that should be paying more into the Treasury?

Putting politics to one side, the impact of climate change on the UK is becoming more profound as well. The first half of the year has been defined by heavy rain, with many bemoaning the lack of sunshine.

Today, however, we find ourselves in the midst of the UK’s first designated heatwave of the summer as the country is set to experience three consecutive days of temperatures 28 degrees and above.

Northern Europe is now designated as a region of genuine heatwave risk and, while temperatures have yet to hit those currently being experienced in the US and India, insurers are bracing themselves for extreme weather events and the resultant claims.

While we have a milder, albeit far wetter winter, are short, sharp and extremely hot summers the new norm as global warming continues?

If so, it will demand a new approach from insurers as new risks for home and property owners emerge.

We may face a long, hot and uncomfortable summer for the insurance industry – but it certainly will not be silly.