Instructions · 02

How to add a claim

The six-step new claim form, field by field, and what to do afterwards.

A claim is opened with the Create a claim button (top right of the Overview, or Claims → New claim). You need the claims.create permission, which CEO, CTO and Staff have.

Before you start, have to hand

The insurer's instruction email or portal referral, and their claim reference and policy number if they gave them.
The risk (damaged) address and its postcode.
The policyholder's name and contact details.
The date the instruction reached us, the cause of damage and any dates of loss.
Any documents the insurer sent (referral, policy schedule): you can upload them on the last screens.

The form has six steps. A progress header shows where you are; Next checks the current step before moving on, and Back never loses what you typed. Nothing is created until you press save on step 6.

1 Claim check
2 Claim details
3 Policyholder & property
4 Policy loss detail
5 Risk & other contacts
6 Review

Step 1 · Claim check

Type the risk postcode and press check. The panel looks for properties and claims already on that postcode and lists them, so you do not open a duplicate.

A valid UK postcode is required, and you cannot continue until you have run the check.
If a match is the same property, you can pick it later in step 3 instead of re-typing the address.
Other claims at the same address appear later under Connected claims on the claim.

Step 2 · Claim details

This records what the insurer asked us to do and how it reached us.

Field	What to enter	Required
Instruction type	Managed repairs (we coordinate approved repair work) or Survey & assessment (ends with a reviewed report to the insurer). This decides which journey steps apply, so choose carefully. See instruction types.	Yes
Assessment method	Site visit, Desktop review of supplied evidence, or Existing insurer scope (no new assessment).	Yes
Scope source	Managed repairs only. Our assessment or Insurer-provided scope. An insurer scope still needs our review and the insurer's recorded approval before any work starts.	Yes
Insurance client	Pick the insurer from your Insurance clients list. Add a new one first if it is not there.	Yes
Referral contact	The person at that insurer who sent the claim. The list fills once you choose the insurer.	Yes
Previous system claim ID	If the claim is moving from an older system, its old number.	No
Client division	The insurer's division or team, if they use one.	No
Client claim reference	The insurer's own reference. Choose Confirmed and type it, or Awaiting insurer / Not applicable and write why. A reason is compulsory unless it is confirmed.	Yes
Policy number	Same three choices and the same rule as the claim reference.	Yes
Policy section	The part of the policy the instruction relates to (Buildings, Contents…). Copy the insurer's wording. It does not confirm cover.	No
Date received	When we received the instruction (not when the damage happened). It cannot be in the future. This starts the service-level clocks.	Yes
Claim received via	Insurer email, Insurer phone, Portal (the insurer's own portal) or Other.	Yes
Claim handler	The staff member who owns the claim. Leave Unassigned if it will be allocated later; it then shows in New claims to assign on the dashboard.	No
Referral note	What the client asked us to do, in your words.	Yes

Why "Awaiting insurer" exists

Insurers often send a claim before they have a reference or policy number. Recording "awaiting" with a reason keeps the claim moving and leaves a clear prompt to chase later.

Step 3 · Policyholder & property

Policyholder

Existing policyholder: pick them from the list if they already have a record. A policyholder can have claims with several insurers.
New policyholder: tick the new-policyholder option and enter either a company name or first and last name (a person), plus optional email and phone, and notes. Correspondence preferences are in a fold-out section.

Risk address

Choose an address found for your postcode, or enter it manually.
Or pick an existing property already on the system, so the same building is never recorded twice.
Record access notes (keys, parking, dogs) if the surveyor will need them.

Step 4 · Policy loss detail

Field	What to enter	Required
Peril type	Escape of water, storm, flood, fire or smoke, impact, accidental damage, subsidence, theft or malicious damage, other, unknown.	Yes
Priority	Routine, Urgent or Emergency.	Yes
Date of loss / discovered / reported	When it happened, when someone noticed, and when it was reported to the insurer. None may be in the future.	No
Initial handler	Optional assignee for the first actions.	No
What happened?	A plain description of the incident.	Yes
Damage and affected areas	Rooms and items affected.	No
Damage is actively worsening	Tick if it will deteriorate without action.	No
Make-safe action may be needed	Tick to flag urgent protection. Make-safe is recorded separately from the repair scope.	No
Recommended next action	The next thing that must happen, e.g. "Call the policyholder and book a survey."	Yes
Triage rationale	Why, including urgency, access problems or what is missing.	No
More insurer information is required	Tick if work cannot progress until the insurer sends more.	No

Policy cover to record (optional)

If the insurer has sent policy details, tick record policy and capture the policy type, inception and end dates (the end date cannot be before the start), and the excesses. Excesses entered here drive the pre-commencement checklist later.

Step 5 · Risk & other contacts

Risk contact: the person to speak to about access at the property (often the policyholder). Choose their role, name, email, phones and preferred contact method. Untick contactable if they cannot be reached directly: the discovery call will then not insist on speaking to them.
Other contacts (up to 12): occupier, letting agent, loss adjuster, broker, emergency contact, key holder or other.
Referral documents: choose files and a document type (referral, policy, correspondence, customer document or other). A PDF, JPEG, PNG or WebP file up to 20 MiB each is accepted; the panel checks the real file type, not just the name.

Step 6 · Review and save

A summary of everything you entered. Check it, press Back to fix anything, then save. On save the panel:

creates the claim with the next number in the sequence, CLM-YYYY-NNNNN;
sets its status to New;
records your name as creator and writes the first entry in the claim's audit timeline: "Claim created from first notice of loss";
files any uploaded referral documents;
opens the new claim page.

What to do right after saving

Assign a handler
If you left it unassigned, choose one on the claim. The dashboard's New claims to assign tile then clears.
Make the discovery call
Open step 2. The default target is 1 hour from receipt (changeable in service levels).
Book the survey
Open step 3, within 2 working days of receipt by default.
Check the policy and flags
Add flags such as Block policy claim or Pre-approved survey where they apply.

Fixing a mistake after saving

You do not edit a saved claim by overtyping it. Use Amend on the claim details: it asks for a reason, refuses an amendment that changes nothing, and writes what changed (old value, new value and your reason) to the Activity timeline. You can amend the insurer reference, policy number, description of loss, damage summary, recommended next action, the three dates, and the claim's own copy of the policyholder name, address, email, phone and the insurer contact email. Amending the claim's copy of a policyholder or address does not change the shared policyholder or property record.

Wrong insurer or wrong instruction type?

These are not amendable fields. An instruction type can be extended (for example from a survey to repairs) with a recorded insurer authorisation, which keeps the original type in the history. For a wrong insurer, speak to the CEO before doing anything: do not create a second claim.