Unsettled draws on the frontline experiences of disaster recovery financial counsellors working in the wake of the 2022 floods across Victoria.

Financial counsellors have raised cash settlements in home insurance claims as a key problem for households. They report that insurers are relying far too heavily on cash settlements, leaving households – who believed they were fully insured – realising substantial losses, with often devastating effects on their long-term economic security.

Unsettled breaks down the issues to explore why problematic cash settlements occur, what the impacts for households are, and how policy can intervene to address each component of the cash settlement problem.