Posts

Update to Members on Business Interruption – February 2021

Dear Member

Thank you for bearing with us as we engaged with the Mutual’s Supporting Insurers, MS Amlin, regarding the Business Interruption cover following the FCA Test case and the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court.  I am very pleased to confirm that we have reached agreement with MSA.  Following a constructive discussion with them, we can confirm that the cover wording provided by AIM will provide cover for Business Interruption caused as a result of the lockdown commencing in March 2020, subject to the criteria shown below.

The AIM cover wording requires there to have been a case of the virus “at the premises” which has resulted in restrictions on the use of the premises, on the order or advice of the Government, for the policy to provide cover.  Therefore, we confirm that there will be cover in the following circumstances:-

The first lockdown period 26th March 2020 to 4th July 2020

  1. You must be able to demonstrate a case of Covid-19 at your premises (being the premises as detailed in your policy) between the 5th and 26th March 2020. The 5th March is the date that Covid-19 was classified as a Notifiable Disease and the 26th March was the date the Regulations confirmed the national lockdown.
  2. If the criteria in 1. above is met, you are able to submit a claim for Business Interruption suffered as a result of the Lockdown from 26 March.  That Lockdown ended on 4 July when most businesses were able to re-open.   Some businesses were, of course, able to re-open before 4 July.  In either case your loss will be calculated accordingly and the indemnity payable will reflect the period of closure and the effect of re-opening although, of course, the overall indemnity will reflect losses suffered throughout the relevant Period of Indemnity. 
  3. If you had a case of Covid-19 at the premises after the 26th March and before the 4th July 2020, this case cannot be said to have caused the lockdown as it was already in force.

 The second lockdown period 5th November to 29th December 2020 and third lockdown January 2021 to March 2021

  1. In respect of the second lockdown from the 5th November 2020 to the 29th December 2020, and subsequent third lockdown period from January 2021 to March 2021, if you had a case of Covid-19 at your premises as specified in your policy schedule, in sufficient proximity to the start of the second and third lockdown periods, then there may be cover for losses suffered in the second and third lockdown periods.

 Ongoing restrictions on Residential Centres

We fully appreciate that some of our Members have been unable to reopen or resume residential visits and residential activities due to ongoing restrictions by the Department for Education.   There may be cover beyond the 4th July 2020 for such situations, while those restrictions continue.

 Exclusion Clause from 26th March 2020

MSA placed an exclusion clause on the BI wording relating to Covid-19 from the 26th March 2020.  Therefore any policies which renewed and any new policies starting after the 26th March 2020 contain the exclusion and cover would not be available.  Therefore you may have cover for the first but not for any subsequent lockdown periods.

Claims

If you consider that you are able to meet the above criteria, we invite you to submit details of your claim to [email protected].  Due to the likely volume of the claims and their complexity we will be instructing Loss Adjusters to handle the claims for AIM.  Further details as to the evidence you will need to show for a case being at your premises and confirmation of what financial documentation is required will be sent out to you.

I hope that for so many of our Members who have been through such a very difficult year that this provides some comfort.

 

 

 

Andrew Gardiner

Chair of the AIM Board

February 2021 

 

Business Interruption – FCA ruling

We are aware of the judgement handed down by the Supreme Court on the FCA test case and whilst we do not believe it changes the position in relation to cover provided by AIM we have referred the matter to our legal team for independent review.  The FCA highlighted that each policy must be considered against the detailed, “complex” judgement to work out what it means for any particular policy.  This as you can imagine will take time to fully understand and as soon as we have a final answer this will be circulated to the Members of the Mutual that this may affect.

We would like to thank you for your continued patience.

Business Interruption – FCA Test Case ruling

For those Members with Business Interruption on their cover the following update applies following the decision made by the FCA.

We are reviewing and considering the decision made by the FCA in the test case judgement handed down this week.  The Mutual Managers are discussing both internally and with supporting insurers and are doing so as quickly as we can, but cannot make any further comment at this stage.

If you want to pursue a claim under the BI cover, please follow the usual procedure for claims but we cannot comment on the validity of any claim at this stage.

For further information about how to make a claim please visit the Claims page on our website 

COVID 19 – Latest Update

Supporting our Members through COVID 19 – UPDATE 7

We hope that you are all keeping safe and well and managing to resume businesses and activities or looking to the future with plans to restart.

Just a gentle reminder to ensure you have the correct Public Liability cover in place before you resume activities, email the team on [email protected] if you have any queries.

Keeping everyone safe

We wanted to remind all AIM Members that whilst we have eased from the initial lockdown there are still some restrictions in place and everyone must ensure that they are adhering to current Government guidelines to keep staff, visitors, and participants safe.  Notably to maintain the social distancing required and the hygiene and sanitisation of equipment.  We believe that this will significantly reduce the spread of the infection and any possible suggestion that a person has caught the infection whilst on your site or doing your activity.  Unfortunately, we have all come across instances where people have breached the rules whilst out and about, whether that be in public spaces or whilst shopping.  The team here are available if you have any concerns or queries about Risk Assessments related to COVID 19.

Business Interruption

The FCA test case has concluded and we await the Court’s ruling.  This is expected in September and we will update Members as soon as we have any further news.

Zoom meetings

Thank you to all of you who have attended the Zoom calls.  These have proved popular and there are planned meetings for the following dates.

Wednesday 9th September 17.30 – Co-hosted with Sam Sutton of New Forest Activities

Wednesday 16th September 17.30 – General catch up

Please let Cath Watson know if you would like to attend on [email protected].  If you have any suggestions for other topics, then please do let us know.  The Mutual is here for its Members so please tell us what you would like!

Claims

We know that many of our Members have resumed activities either fully or partially, therefore, please ensure that you notify us promptly if any accidents or incidents occur.  Even where there does not appear to be any failure or negligence on your part, it is important that we can work with you to investigate and if possible head off any potential formal claim.  With the financial difficulties faced by so many, unfortunately this can give rise to spurious accidents and claims as a way of seeking money.  We want to protect you all against such issues, so please ask if you have any concerns or need any pointers for risk management.  Our Mutual Manager, Sophia, and Account Executive, Ralph would be happy to assist with this so please contact them at [email protected] or [email protected].

If you are adhering to Government guidelines then it is unlikely that you will receive a claim that a person contracted the infection whilst on your premises, or whilst taking part in your activity. For a claim to succeed, the person would need to demonstrate that they did not contract it anywhere else.  With pubs, shops and restaurants now open, we envisage that this will be more difficult to prove.  Please be aware that if you do receive a claim, specifically for COVID 19 related issues, the Mutual’s supporting insurers have excluded any cover from the Public Liability section of your cover.  This means that we would not deal with any claim under the Public Liability cover and you would need to defend or settle the claim yourself; the cover would not respond to provide payment of any fees or claim.  We have seen this being excluded throughout the insurance industry as a result of the pandemic.  Unfortunately we have been unable to change this exclusion for AIM Members.

If you do receive a complaint or allegation concerning COVID 19 related issues, please inform us in the usual way, using the contact information below.  Wherever possible, we will assist you with developing a suitable response, including providing you with a template response letter.

For all incidents and claims, please contact the Claims team as follows:

Phone: 01892 888 475

Email: [email protected]   

We hope that you are all keeping well and if you have any queries or concerns do get in touch.  Thank you for your support of AIM.

Please join our closed Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/798451153625523/

Or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/activitiesindustrymutual/

The AIM Team