Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of potential trends in the level of discrimination of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the provision of insurance.

Under the Equality Act 2010 insurers cannot use ethnicity as a risk factor when determining the price of insurance. Insurers must treat customers fairly under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) rules and the FCA has powers to act against firms that fail to comply.

The Treasury met with insurance companies following the Citizens Advice report on the ‘ethnicity penalty’ published in March 2022 and will continue to engage with the insurance industry and the regulator on this important issue.