Making a highways insurance claim

Before we will pay a claim, you will need to prove negligence by us and that at the time of the incident:

• a hazardous defect existed on a highway maintained by us
• the highway in question has not been categorised and maintained appropriately in accordance with our Highway Maintenance Operational Plan (HMOP), visit Highway Maintenance Operational Plan for full details
• this was the direct cause of the incident or injury; and
• you have suffered a loss

Step 1- If the defect is still present, please report this on our highways reporting tool here Report a highways issue - Suffolk County Council. (Please note, we will need a report under your details to start the claims process)

If the defect is no longer there, proceed to step 2 and state in your email that the defect is no longer there or has been repaired. You won’t need to obtain a report reference number in this situation.

Step 2- Please email customer.services@suffolk.gov.uk with your report reference number and inform us that you wish to start an insurance claim.

Step 3- We will issue you with a claim reference number (which will be used in any future correspondence between us) and send a claim information leaflet for you to review.

The leaflet will contain-

• information about our responsibilities to maintain the highway and things you should know before making a claim;
• what you will need to do if you decide to make a claim and the evidence you will need to provide;
• supporting information you will need to provide such as copies of vehicle insurance certificate and proof of road tax valid at the date of the incident; and
• how your claim will be assessed.

Step 4 - If after reading the leaflet, you believe you have a valid reason for a claim and can demonstrate council negligence, and you decide you wish to proceed further, please follow the guidance enclosed within the leaflet.

If you decide to make a claim, to enable us to carry out an investigation into the incident, you'll need to complete a highway incident report form and provide us with supporting evidence. 

Once we receive the completed form and all the required information as detailed in the relevant sections, we will:

1. Check that the claim relates to something we are responsible for (for example that the incident happened on a road which is maintained by us) – if it is not, we will return the form to you so you can choose whether or not to pursue the claim with someone else
2. Check that all relevant information and evidence has been provided by you to enable us to investigate your claim – if it has not, we will return the form to you.
3. If all the required information has been provided, we will acknowledge receipt of your claim
4. We'll then carry out an investigation into the incident and produce sufficient evidence to refute the claim, or alternatively, accept the claim

We are unable to comment on whether or not your claim is likely to be settled until our investigations are complete. 

Our claims handlers will contact you within 90 days to inform you if your claim has been accepted or not but during and following periods of severe weather it might take us longer to respond to your claim.

If your claim is successful, we may therefore email you to ask you to provide your bank details so we can arrange for a bank transfer.  

This email will be sent from an @suffolk.gov.uk address but if you want to check that the email does come from us, please contact our Customer Service Team on 0345 606 6067.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.