The insurance industry is self-regulating. This means that if you are complaining about a home insurance provider and you want to escalate it, you are escalating it to an organization of which the insurance company is a member.

That doesn’t mean the complaint will not be attended to properly. It’s more that your complaints will be dealt with by people who are experienced in the field of insurance. The insurance industry itself needs to remain credible and clean and clear in order for people to want to give it money.

First of all, when you choose your insurance company, you need to make sure that it is a member organization of at least one, but preferably all, of the following trade organizations. If they are not a member, there is usually a reason for it. Have they been expelled? Do they not want to be regulated? Whichever one it is, if your insurance company doesn’t belong to a regulatory trade organization, your complaints will not go very far.

Should you wish to escalate a problem with your insurance company you have a choice of two main organizations to go to.

First, there is the Insurance Brokers Registration Council (IBRC). Many insurance providers belong to this, and they aim to follow the code of conduct that is set down for them. Should have a real grievance, it will be taken on by the IBRC, which will take a number of steps to escalate the complaint. This means your complaint will be handled by more senior members of staff as it progresses.

The other organization is the Association of British Insurers (ABI). It is important you find out which organization your insurance company belongs to so you know where to go.

These two organizations may soon be superseded by a new organization called the General Insurance Standards Council (GISC). This is slowly taking charge of the regulation of the insurance industry.

In the first instance, you must complain directly to your insurance provider in writing. So, for instance, if you feel you have been miss-sold a policy, get down on paper exactly what happened, who said what to you and when.

If you are not satisfied with the response of your insurance company, you should then find out what they recommend as a complaints procedure. You should follow that. The complaints scheme will fall into two categories. An ombudsman scheme or an arbitration scheme.

The main difference is that both you and the insurer have to commit to accepting the decision of an arbitrator, but only the insurer has to commit to accept the decision of an ombudsman. So, if you don’t think the ombudsman’s decision is right, you can go to court, but it could be lengthy and costly.