Victoria’s bushfire emergency may have eased from its peak, but the system around it is still in surge mode: fires continue to burn, warnings remain in place in some areas and damage figures are still moving as assessments push deeper into impacted districts. Victorian emergency and fire authority data indicates there have been more than 100 separate burnt areas since January 5, with the total area burnt now exceeding 400,000 hectares. Early tallies put destroyed or damaged structures at more than 500, including 179 homes, with some figures running higher as inspections continue.
That scale clearly matters for the insurance sector because of the sheer logistics of even getting eyes on damage. But this event is also a live case study in something the industry has been quietly recalibrating since the 2019–20 fire season and the 2022 floods across NSW and Queensland: the way it deals with customers who are vulnerable, overwhelmed or in hardship and what that means for brokers trying to help clients through the most stressful claim of their lives.
The old “we’ll just handle it well” approach inside standard claims queues is giving way to formal pathways, dedicated teams and specialised roles designed to triage vulnerability early, maintain communication discipline and avoid customers falling into silence at exactly the point they most need support.
In recent years, multiple insurers have shifted to named structures for high-care customers. Allianz, for example, established a dedicated High Care Team in July 2020 as a single point of contact for customers experiencing vulnerability, staffed by specially trained contact centre and claims specialists. Post-flood scrutiny has also driven resourcing and surge-capacity decisions that directly affect difficult claims at peak times. Suncorp says that since the 2022 floods it has expanded its permanent home claims team by more than 150 and established an on-call lodgement response team to scale quickly in major events, while also pointing to more personalised support for vulnerable customers.
Alongside those internal builds, insurers have leaned more heavily into wraparound assistance models and triage. Youi references referrals to a Priority Assistance Team for customers experiencing vulnerability or hardship, and Hollard has deployed its Event and Recovery Team (HEART) for face-to-face claims help after flooding events.
The throughline is clear: in the post-disaster playbook, “customer care architecture” is becoming as operationally important as loss adjusting. For brokers, that shift changes the practical question from “Who do I call?” to “Which pathway does my client belong in—and how quickly can we get them there?”
That same evolution is now reaching beyond insurers into the claims management and loss adjusting ecosystem. Crawford Australia’s Shannon Brocklesby has been appointed as a Vulnerable Customer Advocate (VCA), a role the firm describes as still relatively uncommon among external claims services providers.
“I stepped into this brand-new role in November 2024,” Brocklesby said, describing it as an opportunity to shape what a dedicated advocate can look like in a claims services environment. While some large insurers now operate High Care or customer advocacy functions, she said it is rarer for external providers to hold a specialist position focused solely on vulnerable customers.
In practical terms, the role formalises work that historically sat with the loss adjuster. “Historically, the responsibility sat with the Loss Adjuster,” she said. But as vulnerabilities have become “more visible and more complex”—particularly through successive catastrophe seasons—“it became clear that a more specialised approach was needed.” The point is not to replace technical claims handling, but to separate it: “Having this role allows our Adjusters to focus on progressing the technical aspects of the claim, while I take responsibility for the high care components.”
Jonathan Hubbard, president of Crawford Australia, said the creation of the role reflects a broader industry response to scrutiny following the 2022 floods, including the Senate Inquiry into claims handling and the updated General Insurance Code of Practice. Even where recommendations were aimed at insurers, he said their impact flows directly to the organisations supporting the claim journey.
The change, he said, is a stronger emphasis on “clear, consistent communication” from the initial phases of an event and a heightened focus on identifying customers needing extra care due to personal, financial or situational challenges. Hubbard said Crawford embraced those expectations early, introducing a Call First mandate, increased check-in calls during catastrophe events, and the VCA role to ensure communications are empathetic and adapted to the customer’s circumstances.
Brocklesby’s trigger point is straightforward: “A vulnerable customer can be identified at any stage of the claim… As soon as a vulnerability is flagged, I become involved.” Her work starts with understanding the vulnerability and what support the person needs to navigate the claim safely and confidently. Depending on the case, she may take ownership of communication, work alongside the adjuster to move the claim through a supported pathway, or provide recommendations on reasonable adjustments—such as changing the method or frequency of contact, breaking information into manageable steps, building a personalised claim management plan, or connecting the customer to external support services.
The Victorian bushfires, she said, have produced exactly the kind of conditions that make that structure valuable: trauma after losing homes, land, livestock or income; financial hardship; and an overwhelming recovery workload that affects how customers process information and how often they can communicate. “A consistent point of contact is crucial during a catastrophe,” she said, describing the advocate as “one safe, reliable place to turn for clarity, reassurance, and escalation.”
For insurers and brokers, her lessons are pointed and usable. Identify vulnerability early—“even simple triage questions at first contact” can change the level of support delivered. Provide a single consistent point of contact for high-care customers to reduce confusion and keep them anchored. And be transparent: set realistic expectations on timeframes and next steps, especially during high-volume periods, to prevent avoidable escalation and rebuild trust.
In a catastrophe era, the industry’s performance is increasingly measured by its stakeholders, including government and customers, in human terms: empathy, clarity and individualised support -delivered at scale, under pressure, when the customer can least cope with complexity.
