Discretionary Mutual Protection Programme Insurance

The members of the Fire and Rescue Insurance Consortium (FRIC - which currently consists of 9 Fire and Rescue Services) have studied and actively promoted the holistic concept of Total Cost of Risk within their own organisations since early 2005 and this is now influencing management, policy and procedures. Resultant changes operational behaviour are delivering evidential reductions in attritional loss frequency and costs and encouraging an increased risk appetite.

In 2013 FRIC began a project to develop a risk share and transfer platform that would allow likeminded members to accept additional risk in a managed and affordable way and at the same time develop and adopt a best practice approach to claims handling, data enrichment and analytics to drive risk management and create virtuous circle of improvement and risk awareness.

An independent feasibility study was commissioned in mid-2013 to assess and identify a Target Operating Model that will allow FRIC Members to achieve these goals.

FRIC Members considered a range of alternative funding structures from an informal cross-member pool to a fully regulated Mutual Insurance Company. The model selected is known to FRIC as a (Hybrid) Discretionary Mutual, this being a discretionary mutual supported by a protection programme of external insurance.

Following conclusion of a competitive tender let in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, the Discretionary Mutual Manager has been appointed to manage the Discretionary Mutual and delegated functions from the Protection Programme.

FRIC also plan to market this initiative to the wider UK FRS community so final membership numbers may increase. Growth of membership is certainly anticipated in the longer term as the model of operation is proven over time.

This procurement process concerns the Protection Programme Insurance requirements that are in excess of the DM Entity’s retention.