Eight business insurance roles to name, from executive risk owner to claim lead

One person can hold several roles in a small organisation, but each responsibility should still be named. The list below covers business ownership of insurance work. It does not transfer an insurer's, intermediary's or professional adviser's legal duties to the customer.

What to take away

1. Executive risk owner

Approves the strategy, serious retained risks and resources. This person resolves conflicts between price and exposure and receives material incident or compliance escalation. They should understand decisions without becoming the sole keeper of operational facts.

2. Insurance co-ordinator

Maintains the calendar, gathers contributions, controls submissions and stores policies, correspondence and decisions. The co-ordinator routes questions to specialists rather than interpreting every wording alone.

3. Operational knowledge owners

People responsible for services, products, premises, vehicles, projects or suppliers verify the work actually performed. They report changes and provide controls or incident records. Assign by exposure rather than assuming one operations manager knows every site.

4. Finance and valuation owner

Supplies turnover, payroll, asset values, cash tolerance and payment information with dates and methods. This role reconciles premium, Insurance Premium Tax, fees, finance and adjustments, and identifies immediate cash available after a loss.

5. People and employment owner

Confirms employees, contractors, locations and workplace arrangements. GOV.UK's Employers' Liability guidance describes the general compulsory-cover trigger, exceptions, minimum cover and certificate requirements. Employment and insurance specialists should resolve uncertain status.

6. Contracts and legal owner

Extracts customer, landlord, lender and supplier insurance clauses, liability allocation, territories, duration and claim cooperation. This person seeks legal review and prevents the business from promising an endorsement or waiver that the insurer has not confirmed.

7. Security and data owner

Maps personal and commercially sensitive information, user access, suppliers, incidents, retention and system recovery. The NCSC small organisations guide provides practical cyber controls, while data-protection decisions require the organisation's approved governance.

8. Claim and complaint lead

Maintains the incident route, captures evidence, coordinates communication and tracks deadlines. The lead must know whether an intermediary has authority to handle a claim. FCA Handbook ICOBS 8 says an intermediary without that authority should forward notification promptly or tell the policyholder immediately.

Complaints need a distinct regulated process. The lead recognises dissatisfaction, preserves it and routes it without obstructing access based on wording or channel.

Worked example: three people covering eight roles

A small firm with three people can cover the eight roles. The managing director owns executive risk, contracts and legal, and security and data.

The office manager owns insurance co-ordination, finance and valuation, people and employment, and claims and complaints. The site supervisor owns operational knowledge. Name a backup for each role and test the split during leave.

Add independent challenge

Assign a checker who did not prepare the submission or quotation comparison. They reconcile entity, activity, dates, limits, costs and unresolved issues with sources. Legal, regulatory, tax, valuation and insurance specialists review matters within their competence.

Create a responsibility table with activity, accountable role, contributor, approver, backup and escalation. Test it during leave and system outage. A named role is useful only if the person has access, authority, training and a substitute when the insurance decision cannot wait.

Example responsibility table for a small firm:

Define the handoff between roles

Every transfer should contain the business event, source evidence, decision required, deadline, customer impact and receiving owner. The sender retains responsibility until receipt is confirmed or the procedure explicitly assigns it. A copied email or system notification does not prove that someone accepted the work.

Use a daily queue for urgent claims, expiring cover, payment failure and unresolved disclosure. Review ordinary changes and quality exceptions on a planned rhythm. Escalate when the receiving role lacks authority, the facts conflict or a legal deadline may be missed.

Set a notification deadline, for example tell the claim and complaint lead within 24 hours of an injury, emergency services involvement or a possible claim.

Keep a competence record for each role: induction, current procedure, supervised cases and specialist boundaries. Training should help people recognise when to stop and seek advice, not encourage them to interpret unfamiliar policy language beyond their role.

Review the map after restructuring, outsourcing, long-term absence or a material incident. Reassign open cases individually so a departed employee's name does not remain the only apparent owner.

Before you act

Common questions

How should a business handle a complaint?

Complaints need a distinct regulated process. The claim and complaint lead recognises dissatisfaction, preserves it and routes it without obstructing access based on wording or channel. The lead must also know whether an intermediary has authority to handle a claim, and forward notification promptly where that authority is absent.

What does the finance and valuation owner provide?

This role supplies turnover, payroll, asset values, cash tolerance and payment information with dates and methods. It reconciles premium, Insurance Premium Tax, fees, finance and adjustments, and identifies immediate cash available after a loss. The role sits alongside the executive risk owner, who approves strategy and serious retained risks.