John Price, former lead ombudsman for insurance at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), has won a prestigious lifetime achievement award for his significant contributions to consumer affairs.
Price received the 2022 SOCAP (Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals) Australia Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual SOCAP Australia International Symposium Gala Dinner & Industry Awards last week. The award recognises an individual who has significantly contributed through a lifetime of work in consumer affairs, customer care, and complaints management.
He received the award for nearly two decades of service in dispute resolution and a career spanning almost 50 years in the legal and financial services sectors. The foundations of his extensive industry knowledge were laid when he joined Maurice Blackburn & Co as a solicitor in 1978 and became a partner in 1984. He led the industrial personal injuries practice in the firm until moving into dispute resolution with the Insurance Ombudsman Service in 2004. In 2008, he became the lead ombudsman for general insurance at the new Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). When AFCA replaced FOS and two other ombudsman schemes in 2018, Price became the lead ombudsman for insurance, a role he held until stepping down from the role at the end of June 2021.
Commenting on Price's recognition, AFCA chief ombudsman David Locke said Price has been instrumental at AFCA and its predecessor schemes in providing independent, fair, efficient, and effective dispute resolution.
“John has made an outstanding contribution over his long career,” Locke continued. “He has also been a leading voice for many years on broader policy matters affecting insurance influencing improved insurer practices and consumer outcomes.”
AFCA deputy chief ombudsman Dr June Smith added: “John has secured many individual outcomes for consumers and insurers in resolving complaints. But his legacy can be seen in insurers' improved engagement with their customers” – highlighting Price's efforts to influence insurers' approaches to issues such as informed consent, contract readability, and protecting people with mental health issues from unfair, blanket policy exclusions.
Price has also helped ensure policy provisions are applied fairly, for example, by ensuring that family violence victims do not have claims unfairly denied because of their partner's conduct. Additionally, he championed the need to address customer vulnerability before it became a requirement under codes and regulations. More recently, he led AFCA's insurance team through the peak months of COVID-19 and was involved in discussions about industry-led test cases over business interruption insurance.
