A new partnership between The Insurance Institute of Canada and the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association will accelerate some Level 1 licensing courses to support the quicker onboarding of adjusters.  

The Institute’s Accelerated Competence Series is designed to support new adjusters in reaching their Level 1 licenses by offering the C11: Principles and Practice of Insurance course in an accelerated format.

The partnership will also support the onboarding of new adjusters to CIAA.

“This will help prepare for the current state of high demand in adjusters, as Canadian insurers continue to grapple with the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events in Canada. It also provides readiness should interprovincial trade barriers soon be removed in facilitation of needed mobility of adjusters within Canada,” IIC’s president and CEO Peter Hohman says in a release.

“The partnership with CIAA is an extension of the IIC’s talent gap initiatives, prioritized to assist P&C employers to meet workforce growth and demand for qualified resources…” Hohman said.

The industry handled $8.5 billion in insured damages in 2024, making it the largest loss year in Canadian history. Laura Twidle, CEO of Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc., has told Canadian Underwriter that the figure has since risen to $8.9 billion.

Canadian claims professionals adjusted more than 273,000 claims in 2024, far above the previous record of 197,000 in 2016.

Alongside a sharp rise in demand for adjusters, several industry research findings support that adjuster supply is dwindling, leading to a widening talent gap in the industry.

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators ranked 12th for the fastest-declining jobs by 2030, and 15th for the largest decline in absolute numbers within the same period, according to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2025. That means far more claims roles will be displaced than created, CU previously reported.

The Institute’s own Demographic Research finds claims professionals will make up an 8.5% share of total industry retirements in the next five years.

That means approximately 1,830 claims professionals are forecast to retire nationally between 2023 and 2026. According to IIC, claims employees in commercial lines indicated a higher retirement rate than those in personal lines.  

“CIAA is committed to fostering the professional development of the adjusters who make up our membership for the benefit of the P&C industry. I look forward to the advantages this collaboration brings our industry to advance the profession collectively,” says Michael Connolly, CIAA’s president and ClaimsPro’s Atlantic Canada vice president.  

 

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