You've been burgled. You a) panic, b) call the police. Now you can c) call in your personal incident manager

You have probably witnessed the scene first-hand. The back door has been kicked in and the inner sanctum that once passed for your living room has been turned over. Belongings that held sentimental value are broken or nowhere to be found and you can't remember which credit cards you left on the mantelpiece.

Put in that position again, how much would you pay for a third party to sort out the whole sorry business and put your life back to normal? According to the Norwich Union, about pounds 80 in extra insurance premium is about average.

Britain has the second-worst record for burglaries in Europe, with three homes burgled every two minutes according to Home Office and police figures. More than 5.5 million people have been affected by burglary and last year insurers paid out over pounds 840m on domestic theft. .

Yet the cost of protecting your home has dropped sharply. Fierce competition in the insurance industry - sparked by the aggressive marketing techniques of a growing band of direct telephone operators - has seen average household premiums fall by as much as 20 per cent in the past year.

At the same time there has been a dramatic improvement in the way the insurers treat victims of crime. Gone are the days when an insurer could win market share by promising not to make a drama out of a crisis. Now they must promise all manner of support and treat clients with sympathy as well. And that means sparing them from impenetrable claims forms.

Last week Norwich Union, which sells its policies through brokers, launched its Club service which promises customers their own incident manager free of charge. By ringing a 24-hour hotline a victim can leave the manager to sort out the entire mess.

The manager will arrange repairs and replacements without estimates, a free courtesy car for motor claims, take claim details over the phone and settle claims within 21 days (or explain how long it will take). All work is guaranteed and the bills are paid direct. It can also arrange replacement of items such as televisions and videos.

This concept is not stunningly new, but rather the next stage in the evolution. Direct Line already operates a tele-claim service and will put you in touch with authorised tradespeople to mend the backdoor through its emergency helpline. But in assuming the role of crisis manager, Norwich has taken the service one step further and is now selling peace of mind.

The company spent pounds 4m developing its new service, interviewing more than 2,000 people to see to what extent they had been traumatised by crime. It found that one in two suffered some sort of trauma after a burglary and that most would be prepared to pay extra money to have the burden lifted from their shoulders.

Norwich, which charges pounds 130 for its standard pounds 30,000 contents cover, offers the service at no extra cost. But the cut-price insurers claim this is no more than marketing hype and that the customer will always pay.

"There is a significant cost element in supplying a service where tradesmen are on call all the time," said Adrian Webb of Direct Line, the pioneer in cheap telephoned-based insurance. "It is not a cost that everybody should be paying for whether they use it or not.''

Direct Line maintains that the most important element of insurance is the price and the speed with which claims are met. "With insurance you are simply paying for an efficient claims service in advance. If you are not getting it then you should look elsewhere," said Mr Webb.

It is an argument robustly endorsed by the Consumers Association which says: "All claims should be dealt with ASAP."

However, the Norwich approach was welcomed by Victim Support which believes the personal contact between the insurance company and the victim will genuinely give peace of mind. "Many victims do experience problems and some feel that they are also victims of the insurance companies,'' said Alex Wise. "Research shows that most people see insurers as unhelpful so the contact will be helpful.''

The Norwich research made much of the emotional damage a burglary can cause the victims. It claims that thieves are costing Britain pounds 100m a year in stress alone. One victim in four takes a day off work, one in 10 takes two days and one in 20 is off for a week after the ordeal. At any one time 6 million people are suffering from crime-induced trauma.

Police will always put traumatised victims in touch with organisations such as Victim Support. But the Norwich marketing line is that by offering crisis management within the first 12 hours much of the emotional damage can be avoided. There appears to be little hard medical evidence to back this up But it is a welcome development, anyway.