Our Policies

It is important for life insurers to put the needs of victim survivors at the centre of their approach.

The Life Insurance Code of Practice requires life insurers to have publicly available policies online about how they’ll support people experiencing family and domestic violence. 

To help improve outcomes for customers, Australia’s life insurers developed an industry guidance note that sets out what should be covered in their policies. This includes:  

• A definition of financial abuse 
• Taking the customer’s reasonable communication preferences into account 
• Using technology to improve customer safety 
• A commitment to Australian customers that their family and domestic violence situation will have no adverse effect on their claim 
• Training to ensure employees are equipped to recognise and respond appropriately to people experiencing family and domestic violence 
• Promoting, enabling and arranging access to financial hardship help 
• Taking family and domestic violence into consideration when designing products 
• Minimising the number of times a person experiencing family and domestic violence needs to disclose information about it 
• Referring customers and employees to specialist support services where appropriate 
• Outlining a procedure for people to lodge complaints with respect to compliance with the customer family and domestic violence policy 
• Regularly monitoring the customer family and domestic violence policy and its associated procedures. 

CALI is reviewing this guidance as part of our ongoing work to improve outcomes for people experiencing family and domestic violence.