Call For Action on Subsidence Claims Skills Gap

Claims Consortium Group, the specialist claims management, insurance technology, and weather data provider has written an open letter to the UK education sector in response to the widening skills gap in the subsidence claims sector. The move is designed to help attract new, raw talent to an industry set to witness unprecedented demand as subsidence surge events increase in regularity and severity in the wake of climate change.

Existing skills shortages have already resulted in wage inflation and recruitment challenges across the claims management industry, with insurers increasingly expressing concern over future capacity.

To address the skills gap and help train and develop the next generation of subsidence expertise the Claims Consortium Group has written to universities that specialise in BSc Hons in Building Surveying degrees. The aim of the initiative is to provide free presentations, tuition and insight into career opportunities within the subsidence sector, to galvanize interest amongst students. Early feedback from local universities has been very promising.

Subsidence surge events are now more common because of climate change with the increase in claims volumes starting earlier in the year than previously and damage spread across ever broader geographies. This year’s surge event will be the third in the last seven years, following claims spikes in 2018 and 2022.

The 2022 surge cost the insurance market an estimated £219 million. Of the 23,000 claims received in that year 18,000 were made following the summer heatwave. So far this year, according to the Association of British Insurers, subsidence-related insurance claims have totalled £153 million (for the first half of 2025) with the average payout per claim standing at £17,264.

Steven Coxon, Head of Subsidence Claims at Claims Consortium Group, commented:

“There is a real need for the insurance sector to invest now in initiatives to attract and train the subsidence claims managers, field surveyors and technical experts of the future to ensure the insurance market can continue to respond, and support policyholders, before, during and after, future subsidence events.”

Coxon added: “It would be great if the wider insurance market, including our competitors, mirrored our initiative, as other sectors have shown that capturing the interest of students early on in their careers can make a real difference. Our approach also supports the ongoing work of the cross-industry specialist interest group, the Subsidence Forum, which has been raising concerns over future skills for a few years.

“Our focus is very much on heading off future challenges. For now, CCG is fully prepared for this year’s increase in claims volumes, having already enhanced our supply chain both within the investigation and mitigation areas as well as within our repair contractors. We recorded average subsidence repudiation rates of 70% – against a market average of only 55-60% – during the surge events in 2018 and 2022, due to our skilled triage process and correct technical decisions at the outset.”