Arag posts £1.9m pre-tax profit for 2021

The legal expenses insurer noted this is the twelfth profitable year in a row.

The business stated that the 2021 performance was boosted by the receipt of some outstanding after-the-event income following successful outcomes to premium challenge cases in previous years and strong before-the-event growth, particularly in the commercial legal expenses insurance market.

The company’s premium under management topped £50m, for the first time during the year. A 20% increase on the £42.8m achieved in 2020 took the total to £51.6m.

The provider detailed that after dipping slightly in 2020, the number of SMEs insured increased by almost 25% as the number of commercial risks covered reached 577,000.

It also saw growth in its family legal protection book where the number of risks insured rose by more than 15% to 581,000.

Pandemic

According to the firm while there was a “huge spike” in legal advice calls from families and businesses during the first months of the pandemic the subsequent influx of employment and contract claims was not as great as anticipated.

The total number of advice calls dropped back after peaking in 2020 to just a fraction over 31,000.

Managing director Tony Buss commented: “We expected that small businesses closing during the pandemic while others were forced to tighten their belts, would negatively impact our commercial business.

“However, any loss of business has been more than offset by increased awareness and appetite for legal protection products.”

Concluding: “Fortunately, we were very well-prepared when the pandemic struck and our people have adapted superbly, so we were able to focus on delivering for policyholders when they needed it most, allowing us to emerge from the pandemic in a very strong position.”

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