Financial-services roles are skewing towards higher qualification levels, which changes how you should assess people. In the sector, recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6+ roles rather than RQF 3-5, according to GOV.UK's Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report (2026).
That tilt matters for claims hiring. When the work demands judgement, regulatory awareness and careful decision-making, a CV and a friendly chat tell you very little about whether someone can actually do the job. You need evidence. And the cleanest source of that evidence is the role itself: the duties you already wrote into the posting.
Claims work is a sequence of real tasks: reading a policy, assessing liability, spotting potential fraud, calculating a settlement, writing a clear decision letter and handling a difficult customer on the phone. Each of these is observable. Each produces an output you can score.
A work sample asks someone to do a slice of that real work under realistic conditions. It predicts performance better than a general interview because you are watching the actual skill, not a candidate's description of the skill. For roles weighted towards higher qualification levels, as the financial-services pattern in the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report (2026) suggests, that distinction between claiming competence and showing it is where good hires are won or lost.
Start with the job description you already published. Each bullet in the duties list is a candidate task. Here is a simple method to convert them.
Keep each sample short, 20 to 40 minutes, and tied to one duty. Several small samples beat one long exam: they spread the risk, reduce fatigue and let you see range.
Give every applicant the same brief, the same time and the same rubric. Score the output, not the person. Where you can, assess blind. Consistency is what turns a nice idea into a defensible, bias-reducing process, and it is the reason a sample grounded in real duties stands up when you need to justify a decision.
Building and running samples takes time, and the hardest part is reaching enough of the right people to assess in the first place. That is where we fit. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. If you are hiring in claims, build your samples from the duties you have posted, and let us bring you the people to assess.
