As people start returning to the UK and heading back to work and school, the issue that has plagued the industry over the last year – namely, the fake holiday sickness scandal – is likely to rear its head once again.
When we launched our Stop Sickness Scams campaign in June, together with our travel industry partners, we were delighted with the response it received, both from the media and – more importantly – from the government.
Shortly after the campaign launch, but following months engaging with officials from the Ministry of Justice, the government pledged to close a loophole that has enabled unscrupulous claims management companies (CMCs) to target travel companies and profit unduly.
We are now waiting for the government to publish a Call for Evidence, which we hope will be released in September. This will be an opportunity for the industry to demonstrate the scale of the problem, and Abta will be responding on our members’ behalf. If approved, changes could come in from April 2018.
However, this is only part of the solution. We also need to secure regulatory change to rules around CMC marketing, and increase transparency between CMCs and legal firms.
Many CMCs are adapting, focusing less on using touts in-resort to target holidaymakers, and instead using cold calling techniques to target people in the UK. Many of us will have had similar calls, promoting compensation claims for whiplash injuries or PPI. We know the public dislikes these approaches and how persistent the callers can be. Abta thinks the time has come to ban unsolicited calls by CMCs.
There is an opportunity to change the law as a bill is currently before Parliament which deals with the regulation of CMCs. Abta thinks a cold calling ban will help both the travel industry and customers, who are often unaware that making a fake claim is fraud.
Importantly, legitimate sickness claims – and we know they exist – will still have a right of redress, but targeting holidaymakers with aggressive tactics should not be allowed. Over the coming months, Abta will be lobbying MPs, peers and government ministers to try and bring about this change, and others necessary for a long-term solution.
In the meantime, we are working hard to educate the public about fake claims.
We have launched two videos which show the dangers of falsifying holiday sickness claims and which Abta members and industry partners have been sharing on social media.
We have a dedicated hub on abta.com/stopsicknessscams, and have been running a digital advertising campaign directly targeting people considering making a claim. There is more to do before we finally stop sickness scams, but progress is being made.
Alan Wardle is director of public affairs for Abta
