John found himself in an unwinnable situation when a family member with a criminal conviction was released from prison suddenly, into his care.
Thinking he was doing the right thing, he went to his existing insurance company and asked whether this was something he should be telling them about. They stated yes, and quoted him an extra premium for the declaration. However, when his new paperwork arrived, he noticed the small print stating that he had declared that no one in the house had a criminal conviction.
He went back to his insurer with this information and they said that there had been a mistake in the original call and that they actually had to cancel his insurance policy.
“My current insurer declined to quote on learning that a new member of the household had a criminal conviction”
Left completely uninsured, he went online to a comparison website and discovered homeprotect home insurance, who were actually the only company quoting for his situation.
“No one else would quote at the time I searched the comparison site”
John claims he would not normally speak out in this way, given the sensitivity of his situation, but decided he had to do it this time as he felt he had been “treated as a second class citizen“ by many, and was not given any advice, support or options from those he assumed were there to help him.
“This particular problem was not flagged up as a possibility by the prison service who required our son to live at our address for the period of his license/parole. I feel that it is tantamount to a scandal that prisoners are released early to save the government money while those who take up the problem and pay the cost are not advised that insurance will be a problem or even that the conviction must be declared.”
homeprotect are one of the few insurance companies which provide online insurance for ex offenders.