Sinead Campbell, from London Flats Insurance, discusses the year so far and what we can expect in 2021.
This year has certainly been full of surprises, challenges and team spirit. There have been so many downfalls for many businesses and there is uncertainty in almost every industry.
It has certainly been a very tumultuous year for all, but we’ve worked hard as a team to overcome the initial difficulties and we’re looking forward to a more prosperous, calmer year.
What are your expectations for 2021? What challenges do you think you’ll face?
The insurance sector hasn’t really had the chance to fully consider the impact of the pandemic. However, early indications are showing the market shifting and events such as the large floods and storms at the early part of 2020 will likely start to be considered by insurers once they have understood what kind of impact the pandemic has had on the sector with regards to claims costs; the estimates are currently in the billions.
This could have a particularly disruptive effect on insurance and so we do anticipate a tough 2021 with a hardening market. As the market hardens, enquiries increase, so we envisage 2021 will be very busy for us! At least with the hope of the vaccine we can reward ourselves with a back-to-normal social life!
Do you think there will any difficulty in getting back to normal?
At the moment, I think 2021 will start slowly and cautiously, and rightly so. This has been a year of enormous upheaval, so it won’t be an immediate transition to get everything back to normal.
It will take time and, similarly to the beginning of the pandemic, the end of the pandemic is also going to be a learning curve. The majority of businesses have never experienced anything like this, so returning to some semblance of ‘normal’ will be a long process.
Hopefully we will take baby steps towards normality with the view to enjoy some of our previous luxuries in the summer. Who would have thought we would be reflecting on quite the year we have had?
Do you think there will be any lasting changes moving forward?
Absolutely. Freedom of movement is something my generation have enjoyed without any previous thought or consideration. I think life’s little precious moments are something we will all treasure much more moving forward.
It will be difficult to revert back to ‘normal’, because we’ve realised as a nation that we need to change the way we do things. Masks are likely to become more common; people may start to wear them in public places regardless of whether we’re in a pandemic or not. This was probably something we were overdue anyway, as indicated by the rapid rates of infections.
In some Eastern civilisations wearing a mask for hygiene reasons was considered the ‘norm’, so the UK adopting that kind of mindset will be really beneficial for public health. Likewise, it might mean lower infection rates in case we have another pandemic of some sort.
Overall, there’s a lot more of a focus on public health and our responsibility towards each other, which is only a good thing. Even when the pandemic is over, people may be a lot more conscious of even passing the common cold around, because we have seen how badly our own poor health can affect vulnerable members of our society (especially the elderly), so this will be something we’ll hopefully work on in the future.
There is a lot of talk about our need to develop a ‘new norm’ in the UK, which is understandable. The struggle we experienced as a nation will make us strive to have a process in place in case we face this kind of crisis again.
Another pandemic won’t be unprecedented as this one has been, so hopefully we’ll be able to tackle any other health crises a lot more effectively.
What are you most excited about in the upcoming year?
On a personal front, many of my friends have welcomed children into the world during the last twelve months and we haven’t yet been able to make some of the memories with them that we may have done previously. I’m looking forward to lots of cuddles and laughter with friends and family – without the use of Zoom!
This has been something a lot of people have struggled with, so it will be a fantastic morale-booster for family and friends to be reunited.
On a work front, I am looking forward to our business benefitting from the personal development and growth our team members have made over the past twelve months.
Many of the team have had to work independently with a little less help or assistance from colleagues; most of us have just had to “give it a go” and in many scenarios the can-do attitude we all realised we had has helped us to unlock a wider skill set.
Overall, we’ve all worked really hard over the past year, personally and throughout the entire UK. It will be nice to overcome this huge crisis together and with the new vaccine the end is in sight. Hopefully 2021 will be full of good experiences for us all and will be a much calmer year.
