QBE censured over underpayment on 104 CTP claims

27 July 2022

SIRA issued a letter of censure to CTP insurer QBE on 18 July 2022 following an investigation into the underpayment of 104 injured road users.

In June 2021, QBE found that an indexation increase in weekly benefits commencing on 1 April 2021 had not been paid to some customers.

SIRA was notified of the issue by QBE on 24 June 2021 after which SIRA required a remediation plan and analysis of what caused the issue.

The affected group was in their third entitlement period where their earning capacity was totally or partially impaired beyond 78 weeks from their accident.

The total amount of underpayments was $88,942, with three people being underpaid between $5000 and $8500 and another 28 people by over $1000 each.

QBE subsequently confirmed to SIRA that all affected customers were contacted and told of the error, and repayments were processed by 20 July 2021.

The insurer also made changes to their system to prevent a recurrence of the underpayments, which came into effect from 1 October 2021.

The investigation findings noted that while QBE self-reported the issue to SIRA, the insurer still had breached its licence conditions and obligations under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017.

On 31 May 2022, SIRA sent a show cause notice to QBE outlining the findings of its investigation. QBE confirmed its acceptance of the findings.