MP calls for City watchdog to probe ‘patchy’ British Gas insurance
A Stockport MP has called for City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to investigate a British Gas backlog dispute as more than 100,000 could be left without home insurance.
British Gas parent company Centrica has been accused of provoking a strike which has left its ‘HomeCare’ customers without cover.
Writing to the FCA this week, Labour MP Navendu Mishra called for an investigation into Centrica’s failure to cover homeowners during a British Gas engineer strike and whether their patchy cover was appropriately explained to customers when they first purchased.
Mishra said, “I am deeply concerned by the dangerous precedent being set by Centrica as an insurance provider engineering an employment situation which results in the cover that customers purchased in good faith not being honoured.”
The strikes followed Centrica’s ‘fire and rehire’ tactics for workers who did not accept new terms and conditions.
GMB National Secretary Justin Bowden said, “British Gas has let its customers down. There is now a huge backlog of jobs not done. This backlog will not be cleared anytime soon, and it will grow with strikes running into next month.
“It’s only right that they now face questions from the regulator about their management failings.”
A British Gas spokesperson said that in the “rare” case it is unable to fulfil the HomeCare contract, customers would be remediated accordingly.
The spokesperson added: “We will still be attending all essential and vulnerable customer appointments to keep homes warm and working.
“We will also catch up on other appointments like annual services quickly and within contract periods so our customers are still getting the benefits of their policy.”