A proposal form asks you questions and you write the answers. A statement of fact does it the other way round: the insurer records the assumptions it has made about you, from your answers on the phone or online, and sends the document for you to check. Both create the same obligation, because the statement of fact stands as the factual basis of the policy. If something in it is wrong and you let it stand, the policy was bought on wrong facts, and that is discovered at claim time.

The statement of fact is probably the least-read important document in personal insurance. It arrives with the policy pack, looks like confirmation paperwork, and quietly contains every assumption the price was built on.

The two documents

The proposal form is the traditional route: a questionnaire completed and signed by the person seeking insurance. It is still common in commercial lines and specialist risks, where the questions need thought and documents.

The statement of fact grew out of telephone and online sales, where nobody signs anything. The insurer turns the answers given, and its own standard assumptions, into a document that states the facts the policy relies on: who lives at the property, its construction, claims history, convictions, security, occupancy and so on.

Why the statement of fact needs reading

Because it can contain assumptions you never actually addressed. Statements like the property is not flat-roofed beyond a stated proportion, no business is run from the home, nobody resident has unspent convictions, the home is not left unoccupied beyond a stated period: these can appear as recorded fact whether or not the question was ever put to you clearly.

Your legal duty as a consumer is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, and that includes responding when an insurer asks you to confirm or correct information. A statement of fact is precisely such a request. Reading it and correcting errors is the whole job; filing it unread is how people fail the duty without ever intending to.

When something in it is wrong

Tell the insurer or your broker straight away and keep the correction in writing. The remedies regime for consumers is proportionate: an honest, careful mistake is treated very differently from a careless one, and carelessness differently from a deliberate or reckless answer. Correcting a document promptly when you spot the error is the behaviour of someone taking reasonable care, and it protects the claim you have not yet had to make.

The broker difference

Where a broker arranges cover, the risk information is gathered by someone whose job is to ask the right questions and record the answers accurately, and who reviews the insurer’s documents against what you actually said. On non-standard risks, where the standard assumptions are exactly the ones that do not hold, that checking is a large part of the value.

Common questions

Is a statement of fact legally binding if I never signed it?

It stands as the factual basis of the policy whether signed or not. Your protection is the duty framework: you must take reasonable care, which includes correcting the document when asked to confirm it.

What should I check first on a statement of fact?

The assumptions you were never obviously asked about: occupancy, business use, construction, claims and convictions, security. Errors live in the assumed answers more than the given ones.

What do I do if it is wrong?

Correct it with the insurer or broker immediately, in writing. A prompt correction is evidence of reasonable care; a wrong fact left standing until a claim is the classic route to a dispute.

Why do commercial policies still use proposal forms?

Because commercial risks are under the fair presentation duty of the Insurance Act 2015, which demands fuller, structured disclosure than a consumer statement of fact is designed for.

Does this affect claims?

Entirely. When an insurer investigates a large claim, the statement of fact or proposal form is the first document on the table: the claim is tested against the facts the policy was priced on.

Related guides

This page is general information, not advice, and policy documents differ: always read your own. Solar Insurance Services can review how your risk has been recorded.

Solar Insurance Services (Medway) Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 05439438, and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 459582.

Sources: Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, section 2; Insurance Act 2015, section 3 (legislation.gov.uk).