posted 21st August 2026
Introducing Insurance Dispute Service: A New Specialist Service From Meridian Legal Services
Meridian Legal Services has launched Insurance Dispute Service, a specialist service created to help consumers and businesses when an insurance claim becomes a dispute.
Insurance Dispute Service is operated by Meridian Legal Services from Shrewsbury and supports consumers and businesses across the UK.
The development of the service has been driven partly by the work Meridian already carries out with businesses across the UK.
Through our existing B2B work, including helping companies deal with complex business telecom, contractual and commercial disputes, we regularly speak to business owners and directors facing problems beyond the issue they originally approached us about.
Increasingly, one of those problems has been insurance.
Sometimes the business has made a claim against its own insurer and found that the claim has been rejected, delayed or substantially underpaid.
But we have also seen the other side of the problem: a claim being made against the business itself.
A customer may be alleging loss. A client may be threatening a professional negligence claim. A third party may be seeking compensation. Solicitors may already be involved. And in some cases, just when the business expects its insurance to protect it, the insurer begins questioning whether the claim is covered at all.
That growing demand led us to develop a dedicated specialist service.
Two Sides of an Insurance Dispute
Insurance Dispute Service has been designed around two very different situations.
The first is familiar: you have made an insurance claim and your insurer will not pay what you believe it should.
That can include rejected claims, low settlement offers, delays, exclusions, underinsurance, non-disclosure allegations and disputes over the cause or value of a loss.
The second is becoming an increasingly important part of the service:
Someone has made a claim against you or your business.
That can create two problems at the same time.
The business needs to understand and respond to the claim being made against it.
But it may also need to establish whether its insurer is going to defend the claim, meet defence costs and provide the indemnity the business believed it had purchased.
For a sole trader or SME without an in-house legal or insurance team, that can become a difficult situation very quickly.
When the Insurance You Paid For Does Not Respond as Expected
One of the issues we are particularly interested in is what happens when a business discovers that its insurance may not provide the protection it expected.
An insurer might raise questions about:
- whether the relevant business activity was covered;
- late notification of a claim or circumstance;
- prior knowledge;
- an exclusion or policy condition;
- changes in the nature of the business;
- professional indemnity notification;
- or whether defence costs and legal representation are covered.
The underlying claim does not necessarily disappear while those issues are being argued.
That means a business can potentially find itself dealing with a claimant on one side and its own insurer on the other.
Insurance Dispute Service has been developed to help businesses understand both positions and identify what needs to happen next.
Why Meridian Created a Dedicated Service
Our experience working with businesses has shown us that most owners and directors do not want pages of theory when a serious problem lands on their desk.
They want to understand:
What has happened?
How exposed are we?
Is the insurer’s position justified?
What should we do next?
And, importantly:
Who can help us take it forward?
Insurance Dispute Service provides a dedicated home for that work.
Support can include reviewing policy wording and insurer decisions, organising evidence and chronologies, preparing cases for dispute or litigation and, where appropriate, coordinating specialist barrister involvement.
Support for Consumers and Businesses
Although demand from Meridian’s existing business clients helped drive the creation of the service, IDS also assists consumers dealing with problematic insurance claims.
This includes support with insurance claim disputes involving rejected, underpaid and delayed home, motor and property claims, alongside more complex commercial insurance and liability disputes.
The common theme is simple:
When insurance stops being protection and starts becoming a dispute, the policyholder may need specialist help.
A Specialist Service From Meridian Legal Services
Insurance Dispute Service is a trading name of Meridian Legal Services and represents the continuing development of our dispute-resolution work.
It has grown from problems our clients were already bringing to us — rather than from a desire simply to create another service.
You can find out more about Insurance Dispute Service at:
Responding to a Growing Need
Businesses do not encounter problems in neat categories.
A company we help with a telecom dispute today may tomorrow receive a substantial claim from a customer, discover that its professional indemnity insurer is questioning cover, or find that a major property claim has been rejected.
Insurance Dispute Service has been created to provide a specialist route when those insurance problems arise.
Whether you are trying to challenge your insurer or dealing with a claim being made against your business, the first step is understanding the position clearly before deciding what happens next.
To discuss an insurance dispute, visit Insurance Dispute Service or call 01743 294071.
