Morgan Clark were the first firm of Loss Assessors to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We met all the criteria laid down as soon as the regulation scheme was launched in 2005.

Loss Assessors work on behalf of policyholders when they need to make an insurance claim. By law, a Loss Assessor must be ‘Authorised’ by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means they have met the stringent standards required to manage an insurance claim on behalf of a policyholder.

Before you appoint a Loss Assessor, you should ensure that they are a fully-regulated company listed by the FCA as ‘authorised’. If they are not, then it is possible that your insurance company will refuse to deal with them.

Checking this is very easy. Simply visit the FCA register and enter the name of the loss assessing firm in the box provided:

• If you enter the name of many other loss assessing firms, you will see that they are listed as ‘Appointed Representative’ of another organisation. This means they do not comply with FCA regulations and they are operating under the umbrella of another company’s FCA registration. This can be an insurance broker or other financial services company who may not be completely independent and this may be detrimental to the outcome of your claim.

• If you enter the name of the loss assessing firm and you cannot find their registration details, this means they do not have FCA authority and your insurer will refuse to deal with them. As a result, they will not legally be able to prepare and negotiate settlement of your claim.

• While checking whether the firm is authorised, you should also look at how long it is since this was granted. Morgan Clark was the first major Loss Assessor to be authorised in 2005.

In short, your only protection if you decide to use a Loss Assessor is to ensure they are a fully authorised company. A company’s membership of a trade body is no guarantee of quality and offers you no protection.