General insurance types

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
Produced in partnership with Alexander Rosenfield of Fenchurch Law and John Curran of Indemnity Legal
Practice notes

General insurance types

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Alexander Rosenfield of Fenchurch Law and John Curran of Indemnity Legal

Practice notes
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Consumer insurance and commercial insurance for businesses

This Practice Note provides an overview of some of the most common types of insurance that are available, who might need them, and how they work.

Generally speaking, insurance is divided into two categories: (a) insurance for consumers and (b) insurance for businesses.

For consumers, the relevant statutory regime is the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 (CI(DR)A 2012). CI(DR)A 2012 defines a consumer as an ‘individual who enters into the contract wholly or mainly for purposes unrelated to that individual’s business trade or profession’.

The CI(DR)A 2012 deals with the issue of what a consumer must tell an insurer before entering into or varying an insurance contract. See Practice Note: A guide to the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 for further information.

For businesses, the legislative framework is the Insurance Act 2015 (IA 2015). The IA 2015 represents a paradigm shift away from what was considered to be an outdated and excessively insurer-friendly regime, and is intended to ensure a

Alexander Rosenfield
Alexander Rosenfield

Associate Partner, Fenchurch Law

Alex is a Senior Associate at Fenchurch Law. He specialises in insurance coverage disputes for policyholders with a focus towards property damage claims. 
 
Prior to joining Fenchurch Law in 2017, Alex worked at Elborne Mitchell in the heart of the London insurance market. He trained with BPS Law LLP in Manchester, specialising in policyholder coverage work.
 
Alex is passionate about delivering Fenchurch Law’s mission statement of levelling the playing field for policyholders and has been quoted in several of the country’s leading insurance publications and newspapers on policyholder coverage issues. Those include an article for the Guardian which highlighted the challenges of complying with ‘Unoccupied Buildings’ conditions at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 
Alex graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2009, before completing the LPC at the College of Law in 2010.
 
Away from his practice, Alex is a member of the Society of Construction Law and the British Insurance Law Association. He also sits on BILA’s Young Professionals’ Committee as Media Officer.

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John Curran
John Curran

Solicitor, Indemnity Legal

John Curran joined Indemnity Legal in August 2021. John’s practice spans high-value/complex financial lines, D&O, transactional and tax, business interruption, and energy disputes.

John joined Indemnity Legal after five years at Fenchurch Law, six years at DLA Piper, and 20 years at Clifford Chance. Though John now advises commercial policyholders exclusively on the resolution of high-value/complex insurance disputes, he has acted in the past for global insurers, brokers, and commercial/institutional policyholders in disputes arising in the London market and internationally.

John is qualified in both England & Wales and Hong Kong and is a solicitor advocate.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Consumer definition
What does Consumer mean?

A consumer is a person acting outside the context of a trade, business or profession, but the definition takes different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Therefore it is important to check the relevant law or regulation such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

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