The office for the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance was established in 1985 The function of the office is to mediate in disputes between subscribing members of the long-term insurance industry and policyholders regarding insurance contracts It is an independent office which is accountable to an independent Long-term Ombudsman Council for providing an efficient and independent service to policyholders and others in response to disputes arising from long-term insurance policies Policyholders who submit a complaint to the Ombudsman may still decide to follow the conventional civil justice process, although these two processes are not allowed to proceed simultaneously The service is free to complainants Industry subscrib