How UK Insurers and Brokers Are Automating Customer Interactions With AI

Three quarters of UK financial services firms were already using AI when the Bank of England and the FCA last surveyed the sector, up from 58% two years earlier. The same survey found that only 2% of AI use cases involved fully autonomous decisions. In insurance, that gap describes the market well: plenty of automation around the customer, and people still making the calls that need judgement.

UK insurers and brokers are automating routine, high-volume stages of the policy lifecycle: renewal queries, mid-term adjustments, document requests, payments, first notification of loss and claims updates, plus agent assist and quality monitoring. Pricing decisions, claims settlements and complaints stay under human control, shaped by FCA rules.

TL;DR

• The Bank of England and FCA's 2024 survey found 75% of responding UK financial firms using AI, and just 2% of use cases fully autonomous.
• Automation clusters where interactions are frequent and follow fixed steps: renewals, adjustments, payments and claims updates.
• Agent assist and automated quality monitoring are growing alongside customer-facing AI.
• The Consumer Duty, the FCA's general insurance pricing rules and claims handling rules decide where automation stops.

What did the Bank of England and FCA find about AI use?

The Artificial intelligence in UK financial services – 2024 report surveyed 118 regulated firms. 75% said they were already using AI and a further 10% planned to within three years. Firms rated the biggest benefits in areas such as fraud detection, customer engagement and customer care.

The findings also show caution. 62% of AI use cases were rated low materiality by the firms using them, and only 2% involved fully autonomous decision-making. Automation mostly supports decisions; very little makes them.

The survey covered financial services broadly rather than insurance alone. Smaller brokers may be earlier in the journey, but the direction is the same.

Where in the policy lifecycle is automation happening?

Automation is spreading stage by stage through the customer journey. The table maps each stage to what's commonly automated, the FCA rules to watch, and where people stay involved.

How do FCA rules shape what gets automated?

Three sets of rules do most of the shaping.

The Consumer Duty. In force since 31 July 2023, the Consumer Duty requires good outcomes across products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support. For automation, the consumer support outcome is the sharpest test: customers must be able to get help, make changes and complain without unreasonable barriers. An AI that makes it hard to reach a person fails that test.

General insurance pricing rules. The FCA's pricing practices rules, in force since January 2022, stop firms charging renewing home and motor customers more than equivalent new customers. Automated renewal journeys have to apply those rules correctly, which is one reason renewal pricing stays under close human oversight even where renewal queries are automated.

Claims handling. Insurers must handle claims promptly and fairly. Automation suits the information-gathering and update stages. Settlement decisions, disputes and claims involving vulnerable customers need a person.

What are UK brokers automating first?

For brokers, the first wave usually sits at the phone, because that's where routine volume lands.

Renewal and premium queries, document requests and claims status updates need read access to the broker platform and little else. Mid-term adjustments and payments come next, because they also need write access and card-safe payment handling. DigitalWell AI Voice Agents on the AI Voice Network handle these calls end to end, with every call transcribed, summarised and logged.

Consolidating broker groups have a particular reason to move. When a group buys brokers across the UK and Ireland, the same routine calls arrive at every acquired office. PIB Group, which acquired Campion Insurance in 2022, is one example of the consolidator model. Campion has since added over 15 broker businesses onto a single Genesys Cloud CX platform built with DigitalWell, as the Campion case study describes.

How is AI changing the work behind the scenes?

Customer-facing AI gets the attention, but much of the change is internal. Call summaries cut after-call work. Agent assist surfaces policy information during a call. Automated quality monitoring checks every call, where manual QA once sampled a few.

Jason White, who works on DigitalWell's UK contact centre business, describes how quality management has moved:

"That quality capability has been transformed into a single contact centre platform rather than a separate app."

Jason White, DigitalWell

For UK firms, that matters under the Consumer Duty. Firms are expected to monitor outcomes for customers, and transcribing and analysing every call gives far better evidence than a small sample. DigitalWell implements Genesys Cloud CX, Amazon Connect and Zoom Contact Center, each with its own analytics, and its own DigitalWell 360 platform; the Customer Experience page compares them.

What should a UK insurer or broker check before automating?

Use these questions before each new automation goes live.

1. Does it support the Consumer Duty outcomes? In particular, can customers reach a person, make changes and complain easily?
2. Does it apply pricing rules correctly on renewal journeys?
3. Is card data kept out of recordings on payment calls?
4. What triggers a handover? Distress, vulnerability, disputes and complaints should all reach a person.
5. Is the customer told it's automated? Clear communication is part of the Duty.
6. Is every interaction recorded and searchable for complaints and monitoring?
7. Who is accountable? Name a person responsible for the AI framework and its outcomes, as most firms in the BoE and FCA survey reported doing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many UK insurers are using AI?

The Bank of England and FCA's 2024 survey covered financial services broadly, not insurers alone. It found 75% of responding firms using AI and a further 10% planning to within three years.

Can AI settle insurance claims in the UK?

Firms can automate parts of claims handling, such as notification and updates. Settlement decisions, disputes and vulnerable customers' claims should involve a person, given FCA claims handling rules and the Consumer Duty.

Does the Consumer Duty restrict AI?

It doesn't ban AI. It requires good customer outcomes and easy access to support, so AI must be designed to help customers and never block them from reaching a person.

Do UK brokers need a new contact centre platform to automate calls?

No. Network-layer voice AI works with existing phone systems. A new platform can still help with omnichannel routing, reporting and quality monitoring.

Does the EU AI Act apply to UK insurers?

Not to UK-only operations. It can apply where AI systems interact with customers in the EU, for example a UK group with Irish customers.

Key Takeaways

• UK financial services are widely using AI, but almost all of it supports decisions rather than making them.
• Insurers and brokers automate the routine stages: renewals, adjustments, payments, first notification and claims updates.
• The Consumer Duty, the general insurance pricing rules and claims handling rules decide where automation stops.
• Agent assist, call summaries and automated quality monitoring strengthen Consumer Duty monitoring.
• Broker consolidators gain the most, because the same routine calls arrive at every acquired office.

Planning automation across a UK and Irish broker group? Talk to DigitalWell about where to start and how to evidence good outcomes.