Sam White: Stella Insurance is focused on ‘solving the problem, not owning the proposition’ for domestic abuse policy

Caroline Criado Perez, author of the book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, famously asserted that “products have historically been designed by men, for men, which has led to a systematic exclusion of women from the design process and a lack of consideration for their needs”.

Figures published by specialist law firm GQ Littler on 18 December 2023 identified that of the 431 chief executive roles in the UK insurance sector, only 29 were filled by women.

The research also found that women represented just 16% of chief financial officers in the UK insurance sector – or 63 out of 390 – while less than 11% of chairpersons are women. This equates to 43 out of 407.

The underrepresentation of women in senior positions across the industry raises the question – are insurance products addressing the risks that women face if they are created by firms run by men?

Stella Insurance was launched in Australia in 2020 by chief executive Sam White, who is also the founder and chair of Freedom Services Group. The new business was born out of her 23 years of experience in what she describes as the “male dominated” insurance industry.

She explains: “This led me to question whether this male dominance might influence how the [industry] interacts with customers, the products [it] underwrites, the way [it] communicates with customers and how [it] markets them.”

This is where insurtech MGA Stella Insurance comes in, as White created the company to have a focus on “redesigning services from a perspective that [understands] the needs of women”.

For example, White highlights that ”one of the most vulnerable aspects of being female” that the insurance sector has not yet addressed is domestic and sexual abuse.

According to data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), published in November 2023 for the year ending March 2023, approximately 27% of women and 13.9% of men have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. Specifically relating to partner abuse, the figures are 22.7% for women and 10.2% for men.

The CSEW surveys 35,000 to 40,000 households in England and Wales annually.

The proposed product

White hopes to launch a domestic and sexual abuse policy that is integrated into all of Stella Insurance’s policies, offering independent legal advice and support to those who find themselves in domestic abuse situations.

She tells Insurance Times that this new proposition is currently under development and that it will be applicable for anyone, regardless of gender.

Her plan is to include the domestic abuse support as an automatic, free add-on for customers that take out a motor policy with Stella Insurance. She then intends to roll the proposition out in due course across the breadth of the MGA’s product range, which includes telematics policies.

The aim of the proposition is to “guarantee a certain number of legal hours”, so that customers can access lawyers, counselling services and advice lines.

White explains: “The idea is for lawyers to conduct their usual investigation within allocated hours. They would then support the victim through the process, whether that involves helping them obtain an injunction or providing legal assistance based on the route [the victim wishes] to pursue.”

From an insurance perspective, however, this offering presents a challenge.

White says: “To determine whether someone has a valid case, a lawyer needs to do a lot of work upfront and that is where my concern lies.

“To make this [product] work within an insurance framework, we would have to set a limit. [For example], offering three hours of legal support.”

The problem here is that if three hours, for example, are insufficient, a legal process may be started that cannot be completed, potentially leaving individuals without the necessary support or closure.

White believes that “offering something is better than nothing”, but she warns that without providing end-to-end support in these cases, individuals may remain vulnerable and could potentially be exposed to further harm.

“We’re trying to figure out the right level of [hours] that will help people in these situations,” says White.

White notes that Stella Insurance would not market this proposition through brokers, but would instead manage the process in-house.

Fraud considerations

While false accusations of domestic and sexual abuse are rare, they do occur.

According to UK police data from 2018 to 2021, published by the Metropolitan Police in February 2022, false domestic abuse complaints accounted for just 0.01% of all domestic abuse complaints made to the Met Police – amounting to one in every 7,300 complaints.

In 2020, 14 domestic abuse offenses were flagged as false allegations, while in 2021, this number was 20.

To address this risk and the potential for Stella Insurance’s new proposition to be exploited, White thinks lawyers will need to collaborate directly with claimants rather than just providing cash upfront for victims to escape their situation.

This approach would allow lawyers to assess the validity of each case individually and offer bespoke support accordingly, helping to manage potential fraud more effectively.

White adds that this method would allow Stella Insurance to focus on providing support for domestic abuse victims rather than spending additional time on claims validation.

She says: “The assistance lines will be there, along with the counselling and support services.

“Then, what we’re envisioning is that we will be able to offer a fixed number of legal hours with the lawyers, which will mean that if our policyholders have suffered from either sexual abuse or domestic abuse, they will be able to access a lawyer’s time.”

Despite the challenges involved in bringing White’s proposition to life, she says that tackling problems as they arise is her preferred approach, rather than just abandoning her idea.

She says: “It was never going to be easy and we might start with one version of the product and then adjust it [as time goes on]. The answer should not be that it is too hard, so we will not do it.

”Everything is hard. Life is hard, business is hard – but that does not mean we should not tackle these challenges.”

Take up the mantle

White is not concerned about the possibility of larger insurers adopting Stella Insurance’s idea here. In fact, she welcomes it.

“People ask ‘what if someone steals the idea?’ Well, I kind of want them to,” White says.

“We’re a small player trying to make a positive impact on the world and I’d be absolutely delighted if one of the big insurers took the mantle and incorporated it into their policies.”

White explains that for Stella Insurance, the domestic abuse support proposition is not about financial gain, but about offering real protection to people when they are most vulnerable.

White adds: “We’re more than willing to sit down and figure out the mechanics, such as what the underwriting needs to look like and how much money needs to be set aside for these policies to work.

“We’re focused on solving the problem, not on owning the proposition, because realistically, it will take us some time to grow big enough to have the impact we aspire to.

“For me, I’d love to see domestic abuse and rape crisis support embedded in all home and motor insurance policies because these are very real issues that people face daily.”