7. Assetinsure will ensure all relevant employees and distributors have ongoing training such that they:
(a) are aware of the Assetinsure’s policies and procedures when they are engaging with someone experiencing family violence;
(b) identify customers affected by family violence;
(c) deal appropriately and sensitively with customers affected by family violence; and
(d) apply the family violence policy — and related policies and procedures — relevant to their role in dealing with customers affected by family violence.
8. As customers affected by family violence may be reluctant or unable to disclose their circumstances, Assetinsure’s employees and distributors will be provided with training to develop the skills to help them identify signs that may indicate a customer is affected by family violence. Those signs are, for example, when someone:
(a) appears, or sounds, distressed or scared;
(b) is seen, or heard, to be taking instructions from their partner;
(c) remains silent while another party does all the talking;
(d) does not understand, or is not aware, that cover has been taken out in their name or covering their property;
(e) asks questions about a joint policyholder’s behaviour or activities;
(f) has concerns about protecting their personal privacy or safety, or the security of their policies;
(g) is reluctant to involve the other joint policyholder when making changes to the policy, making a claim or seeking Financial Hardship help;
(h) changes their address frequently;
(i) does not want their physical address recorded;
(j) is consistently late with premium payments; or
(k) discloses the existence of any past or present family violence, or an intervention order or its equivalent.
9. The way Assetinsure’s employees and distributors deal with customers who may be affected by family violence should facilitate, rather than act as a barrier to identifying family violence and improve the experience of those affected by family violence.
10. In particular, Assetinsure’s employees and distributors must not require evidence of an intervention order to trigger the requirements of the family violence policy. Instead, an employee or distributor should treat a customer as the policy requires them to be treated if:
(a) the customer self-identifies to the employee or distributor as being affected by family violence; or
(b) the employee identifies — through the sorts of signs listed in paragraph 8 — that the customer may be affected by family violence.
11. Assetinsure’s employees and distributors are not expected to be social workers or experts in family violence. However, the training will help employees to reduce the impact of family violence on customers.
12. Training is tailored to an employee’s or distributor’s role within the business and the amount of contact they have with customers affected by family violence. It focuses on developing their knowledge, skills, competencies and information.
13. Training will help Assetinsure’s and distributor’s employees:
(a) be more aware of the prevalence and practical effects of family violence;
(b) recognise potential or early signs of violence that may lead to future violence;
(c) have careful and sensitive conversations with a customer affected by family violence — without disclosing to the perpetrator of such violence that the employee is aware of the family violence;
(d) appropriately triage matters involving family violence — this may require the employee or distributor to:
(i) decide — as a matter of priority — on a claim or whether to provide Financial Hardship help; or
(ii) promptly escalate an issue to a more senior person;
(e) refer the customer affected by family violence to specialist services that can give further guidance;
(f) understand the impact of trauma on a customer affected by family violence — in particular, how trauma may affect the way they appear and present;
(g) enable employees to engage with customers in a supportive manner;
(h) understand the potential impact — sometimes positive and sometimes negative — that an insurer’s actions can have on a customer experiencing family violence;
(i) understand the need for strict confidentiality and privacy in relation to a customer affected by family violence;
(j) understand the significant and heightened safety risks for women and children during and after a relationship separation;
(k) understand that perpetrators of family violence:
(i) are customers whose needs have to be managed appropriately; and
(ii) may attempt to convince the employee to disbelieve or dismiss someone affected by family violence;
(l) understand the need for flexible arrangements for, and responses to, customers affected by family violence;
(m) understand the legal and procedural implications of court-issued family and domestic violence orders to the extent that these, impact a claim or the customer experience;
(n) know about local referral pathways and contacts for local support services; and
(o) understand, and keep in mind, that a female customer affected by family violence may prefer to speak to a female employee.
14. Assetinsure will make sure that their service suppliers who deal directly with customers — such as underwriting agents, loss assessors, investigators and claims management services — are trained to the same level as employees. That training needs to happen before the service supplier comes into contact with a customer who has been identified as being affected by family violence.
15. Any service supplier engaged to contact someone who has been affected by family violence must handle the situation with appropriate sensitivity.