Loss adjuster vs loss assessor: who's on your side?

Two job titles that sound almost identical, two completely different paymasters. The loss adjuster works for your insurer. The loss assessor works for you, for a percentage of your settlement. Knowing which is which, and what each one is actually there to do, changes how you handle every conversation in your claim.

Who the loss adjuster works for

When a home insurance claim is large or complicated, such as a serious escape of water, a fire, or a flood, the insurer often appoints a loss adjuster rather than settling it from a call centre. The adjuster visits your home, investigates what happened, checks the damage against your policy wording, and reports back to the insurer with a recommendation on what to pay.

The insurer instructs them and the insurer pays them. That does not make adjusters dishonest: many are members of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA), whose guidance requires members to act with fairness and integrity towards policyholders. But their client is the insurer, their repeat business comes from insurers, and their job is to make sure the insurer pays what the policy requires, not a penny more.

The practical consequence: treat the adjuster as a professional you deal with carefully and factually, not as an adviser looking after your interests. What you say about the cause of the damage, in particular, can decide your claim; more on that is in our guide to the loss adjuster's visit.

Who the loss assessor works for

A loss assessor is the mirror image. You appoint them, they represent only you, and they take over the running of your claim: documenting the damage, preparing the schedule of what you're claiming for, dealing with the insurer's loss adjuster, and negotiating the settlement.

That representation is not free. Most assessors charge a percentage of the final settlement, typically around 10% plus VAT, with fees across the market ranging from about 5% to 15% depending on the size and complexity of the claim (see, for example, the published fee pages of Morgan Clark and Oakleafe, two of the larger firms).

On a typical claim the fee is real money: the average UK home insurance claim was about £6,000 in 2025 according to the Association of British Insurers, which puts a 10% + VAT fee at roughly £720. Whether that is worth paying depends on your claim; we work through the honest maths in Do you need a loss assessor?

Loss adjuster vs loss assessor at a glance

When each one appears in your claim

You don't choose whether a loss adjuster is involved; the insurer does. Insurers typically send an adjuster when the claim is above their internal value threshold or when something needs investigating: an unusual cause, a large loss, questions about policy conditions. On smaller claims you may never meet one and the claim is handled entirely by the insurer's in-house team.

A loss assessor only appears if you hire one. You can do that at any stage: some people appoint one on day one of a major loss, others only when a claim turns into a dispute over the settlement offer or drags on for months. If you appoint an assessor mid-claim, they pick up the negotiation from wherever it has got to.

Are they regulated?

Two different answers.

Loss adjusters working for insurers operate under the insurer's regulatory obligations, and chartered adjusters are bound by CILA's professional guidance on fair treatment of policyholders. If you believe an adjuster has behaved unfairly, your route is a formal complaint to the insurer, because the adjuster is their agent, and from there to the ombudsman. Our guide to complaining to your insurer covers the process and deadlines.

Loss assessors act for consumers, and firms that advise on or handle insurance claims for the public generally need to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Before appointing one, search the firm's name on the FCA Financial Services Register. If they are not on it, walk away.

What this means for how you handle your claim

Three practical rules fall out of the paymaster distinction:

1. Be scrupulously factual with the loss adjuster. They are gathering evidence for the insurer's decision. Answer questions accurately, don't guess about causes, and don't sign anything you haven't read. Prepare properly using our loss adjuster visit checklist.
2. Don't assume anyone in the process is advocating for you. Unless you have appointed an assessor, the only person arguing your side of the claim is you. That is workable, since thousands of people settle claims well on their own, but it means you need to know what your policy actually says. You can upload your policy to Roci and get a plain-English picture of what's covered, what's excluded and what conditions could trip you up before the adjuster ever visits.
3. Remember that every figure is challengeable. The adjuster's report is advice to the insurer, not a verdict. If the resulting offer looks light, get your own line-item quotes and push back, and if the insurer won't move, the ombudsman route is free and upholds a meaningful share of buildings insurance complaints.

If your claim has already been turned down rather than under-offered, start with the pillar guide: Home insurance claim rejected? What to do next.

If you're unhappy with the loss adjuster

Because the adjuster acts as the insurer's agent, you don't complain "to" the adjusting firm in any way that binds your claim; you complain to the insurer about the handling of your claim, and the insurer answers for its adjuster's conduct. That distinction works in your favour: it pulls the dispute into the regulated complaints process, with its fixed deadlines and free escalation.

Grounds worth complaining about include an adjuster recording things you didn't say, refusing to explain how figures were reached, long unexplained gaps after the visit, or pressure to accept a figure on the spot. Put the complaint in writing, use the word "complaint" so it can't be logged as a routine query, and set out what happened, when, and what you want done. The insurer then has eight weeks to give you a final response before you can take the whole matter, adjuster conduct included, to the Financial Ombudsman Service at no cost. The step-by-step process, wording and deadlines are covered in How to complain to your insurer.

One more asymmetry worth knowing: if the dispute is about how much rather than whether the insurer will pay, the evidence that wins is nearly always documentary: your photographs, your itemised quotes, the adjuster's own report obtained by subject access request. The ombudsman decides on paper, and the better-organised file usually wins. That is equally true whether you fight alone or pay an assessor to fight for you.

Where to go next

• The loss adjuster's visit: what to expect and how to prepare
• Do you need a loss assessor, or can you do it yourself?
• Insurance settlement offer too low? How to challenge it
• Home insurance claim rejected? What to do next