For Members of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services. NCVYS Members Guide to Insurance

Transcription

1 For Members of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services NCVYS Members

2 Introduction Unity Insurance Services, a specialist in children s and youth charities insurance, is delighted to have been appointed by NCVYS (National Council for Voluntary Youth Services) to assist its members with insurance. Unity has produced this guide to help you understand in simple terms the main areas of insurance that your organisation may need to consider, how each can protect you and help you decide what is necessary. This guide is not intended to replace detailed advice, but is a brief summary to get you started. Unity can provide individual advice for your specific needs and arrange any insurances you require. Contact Unity on: NCVYS It is an easy to use interactive guide just follow these simple steps by clicking the start button below and then selecting or to the questions that appear and it will guide you to the relevant sections of insurance. START info@unityins.co.uk Alternatively, you can go straight to a specific type of insurance you are interested in from the menu. Just click the menu button below. Menu

3 Insurance Menu To view the cover type you require simply click the appropriate title: Insurance for NCVYS Members available from Unity Insurance Services Public Liability Employers Liability Legal Expenses or Employment Practice Liability Personal Accident Fidelity Insurance Buildings Insurance Business Interuption Contents Insurance and All Risks Insurance Money Insurance Professional Indemnity Trustees Indemnity Loss of Licence Motor Travel Event Insurance Engineering About Unity Insurance Services Or take the interactive route... START

4 Start Do you interact with the public?

5 Public Liability If your organisation interacts with the public, whether it is individuals or other organisations, Public Liability insurance will cover the cost of compensation to third parties for death, injury or damage to property caused by the negligence of your staff, volunteers or members. The cover would pay for the cost of defending a claim and any damages that become due if found against you subject to any policy terms and conditions. Without Public Liability insurance your organisation would have to fund this cost directly. Even if the claim is unfounded you may have to defend the allegations made against you and if you didn t have Public Liability cover you would have to pay for this defence cost from your own funds. Examples: If you take children on an outing and they damage someone s property and a claim is issued against your organisation, your Public Liability insurance would deal with it. If a member of the public trips over at your premises and breaks an arm alleging your organisation was negligent you would use your Public Liability insurance to defend and meet the claim. If you run an event and attendees damage a third party s property or land and a subsequent property damage claim is issued by the third party, your Public Liability insurance would handle the claim. The above are examples of fairly minor incidents but in the event of serious injuries or accidents causing permanent disability or fatality compensation could go into the millions. How essential is Public Liability Cover While Public Liability insurance is not a legal requirement, in an increasingly litigious society people are encouraged to seek compensation. A law suit can be stressful and expensive even if you are found not to have been negligent in the end. The cost of defence and subsequent damages awarded could seriously hamper an organisation s finances. We therefore recommend every organisation whether a charity, social enterprise or community interest group has this cover. In many situations you may be required to have it to qualify for grants, funding or where you are providing public services, or even just wanting to lease, hire or use the premises or facilities of another organisation for your charity work. Things to consider > < back Back to Insurance Menu

6 Public Liability AND... Do you have volunteers or employees? Things to Consider: Abuse cover: Check your policy includes cover for allegations of abuse, as this can be excluded under some covers and we would strongly advise you have suitable abuse cover if you are working with children or vulnerable people. Limit of indemnity: There are different options for indemnity, usually 1m, 2m, 5m, 10m and 20m. If you are running a small one off, low risk event you may feel that 1m of cover is appropriate, if you are a very small low risk group and looking for annual cover you may go for 2m. If you are a small to medium sized group doing activities which may involve some physical exertion but not very high risk then 5m would be appropriate, if you are a larger group or are doing adventurous or high risk activities you should consider 10m. Some local authorities ask you to have 10m of cover in order to be eligible for funding. Very large charities working with many members of the public particularly children, or doing very high risk activities e.g. potholing, activities that could injure more than one person at a time e.g. coach trips, group caving, mountaineering should consider a higher limit like 20m. Costs and key factors: If you are a small voluntary group doing low level activities you can get this type of cover for under 100. Case Studies: A visitor to a charity s offices slipped in the car park. They sued the group for injury and broken glasses. The charity s insurance provider handled the claim from start to finish, interacting with the claimant and financing legal advice so that the charity could carry on providing its service without having to spend time and money defending the claim. Parents dropped children off at a youth group early; during this time the children were playing and a child broke his leg; his subsequent recovery co-incided with his GCSE exams. The parents felt that the youth group should have anticipated children arriving early and provided supervision, they alleged negligence. As well as suing for his injuries they also sought compensation for damaging his education and work prospects as his exam grades were affected. The parents did not win the case but the charity still had to go to court and incur legal costs. Their public liability insurance met all court costs, solicitor s costs and provided peace of mind.

7 >>> Do you have volunteers or employees?

8 Employers Liability If you employ anyone in any capacity even temporary, part time or seasonal including students or others on work placements it is a legal requirement to have Employers Liability Insurance. This covers your legal liability for any injury, disease or fatality to employees which may occur through work or as result of workplace conditions. Employees injured due to your negligence can seek compensation even if your organisation goes into liquidation or receivership. Failing to have this insurance can lead to fines of 2,500 per day for not having it and 1,000 per day if you don t display your certificate. You employ someone if any of these apply: You have a form of contract of service with them to perform work for you. You pay tax and national insurance on their behalf from the money you pay them. You control where they work and how they work. Volunteers Volunteers do not have employment status and so you are not legally required to have Employers Liability insurance for them, however it is good practice to offer the same duty of care to volunteers as employees and it is advisable for you take out Employers Liability cover for your volunteers even if you only have volunteers and no employees as the damages and legal costs of defending a claim can be hefty. Most insurance companies include volunteers however you must tell your insurer you have volunteers or they may assume you do not and not cover them in the event of a claim. What does it pay for >

9 Employers Liability AND... Would you like protection for employment disputes? What does it pay for? The cover would pay for the cost of defending a claim and any damages that become due if found against you subject to any policy terms and conditions. Without the insurance your organisation would have to fund this cost directly even if the claim was unfounded as you may have to defend the allegations made against you. Cover levels and costs You must by law have a minimum of 5m of cover, although most insurers offer at least 10m. It is worth giving your broker information on the full time equivalent (FTE) of workers as well as total number (if you have part time workers) as they may be able to calculate the premium on the lower FTE rather than number of employees, wage roll is also taken into account for rating this type of cover. Examples: A charity had an office policy purchased from a non-specialist insurer which only covered activities in their place of work. However every weekend, their volunteers were fund raising in the local high street and their policy did not cover them for this. Though no incident occurred, if something did happen, they would not have been covered. A Community Group which was 100% voluntary run with no employees did not buy Employers Liability cover. When a volunteer was injured and the charity tried to claim for costs on their Public Liability policy assuming it would be covered under that, their insurer would not pay out as their Public Liability policy expressly excluded volunteers. They should have taken out Employers Liability insurance, to cover volunteer injury.

10 Legal Expenses and Employment Protection Liability Legal Expenses insurance covers the cost of defending your organisation against legal action in disputes with third parties such as suppliers, vendors and other organisations. The insurer will pay solicitors, barristers, accountants and expert witness fees and expenses as well as court costs and opponents costs if you are ordered to pay them in a civil court. Legal Expenses insurance often provides advice and a legal helpline. It can also cover legal costs of employment disputes if a disgruntled member of staff or volunteer decides to sue you for breach of employment or volunteering practices. With the current climate of funding cuts and donations down charities are having to look for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency, sadly in many cases this has lead to redundancies. Passion and dedication to a cause for charities can be huge and can on rare occasions lead to an HR related grievance if the proper channels have not been followed. Incidents of charity employees and volunteers bringing tribunal cases against their charities are rising, and even if you have done everything correctly, defending an allegation can be timely and expensive as well as worrying. Having the right insurance in place will take some of the stress out of a difficult situation. What is the Difference between Legal Expenses and Employment Protection Liability cover and which is appropriate? Legal Expenses: Legal expenses applies to a wider set of scenarios e.g. Disputes with suppliers as well as employment practices. If the insurer believes you have a less than 50% chance of winning your case they will not take the case on and the policy will not respond; you will have to meet the legal costs yourself. Employment Protection Liability (EPL) Employment Protection Liability also sometimes referred to as Employment Practices Liability covers specifically employment dispute situations and not wider types of disputes. It will also pay out for damages awarded if found against you well as the legal costs. It allows you to claim on the policy no matter the pre determined chance of winning your case, providing policy terms and conditions are met. Employment Protection Liability also generally allow for higher limits of indemnity than legal expenses pound for pound spend of premium. This cover is therefore particularly useful if your main concern is the risk of employment disputes and/or if you have staff in the higher pay levels where the damages and awards you would have to pay out would be substantial. Having EPL cover can give you a peace of mind in the event of an employment tribunal finding against you. continued... >

11 Legal Expenses and Employment Protection Liability AND... Would you like to provide support to your people when they have an accident? As soon as you know you are likely to be making redundancies or you are having disciplinary hearings that may lead to dismissal, or indeed any employee disputes that signals a likely claim, speak with your insurer, the sooner they know the more supportive they will be for any future claim, and can also advise you of the best way to proceed so you are less likely to have any comeback from employees suing for unfair dismissal etc. Most Legal Expenses and Employment Protection Liability policies will provide you with free access to qualified solicitors so before making any decisions you have the chance to talk with a qualified professional and it is advisable to do this always first and as early on as possible. Examples: A charity was undergoing a restructure, resulting in redundancies. An employee stated that they did not consult staff early enough in the process of redundancies. The charity realising their mistake spent several months trying to negotiate with the employee as they wanted to reach a settlement and did not inform the insurers. The insurance company felt failure to follow correct HR procedures meant their chance of winning the case was low. They also felt their position had been compromised as the charity tried to negotiate a settlement signalling admission of liability. Therefore insures declined to take the case on leaving the charity to meet the costs including damages using charity funds. It is therefore important to seek advice when arranging the insurance.

12 >>> Would you like to provide support to your people when they have an accident?

13 Personal Accident Personal Accident insurance pays a regular benefit in cash to a person who cannot work because they have had an accident. Persons covered can include staff, volunteers members, trustees and anyone else working with your organisation if they become injured while undertaking activities for you. The cover would pay out a defined amount to the injured person on a regular basis, normally every week, up to a maximum number of weeks, usually 52 or 104. It can also pay a lump sum for death or a specific injury, such as loss of an arm, leg or eye. Personal Accident insurance is not to be confused with Public Liability and Employers Liability Many people often confuse Personal Accident Insurance with Public Liability and Employers Liability insurances as these also pay out to an injured party however this is only where the organisation is negligent and liable for the accident or incident. A payment given under a Personal Accident insurance policy is a straight no blame payment, where the policy pays out a defined benefit irrespective of whether there was any negligence. Personal Accident insurance can help to look after your Staff and Volunteers Charity and voluntary organisations are often forced to pay lower wages to staff because their funds need to go towards achieving their charitable aims; they also rely on the goodwill of volunteers. Therefore many organisations want to look after their supporters in other ways and giving them Personal Accident cover is one of those options. If an employee or volunteer becomes injured while working/volunteering for you, you may feel a moral duty to compensate them even when you do not have a legal duty. This may be particularly true if your volunteer is self employed and may suffer financial hardship if they cannot continue their normal work due to the injury. Cover Options >

14 Personal Accident Personal Accident cover offers several options to choose from: AND... Would you like protection for staff dishonesty? Basis of cover: Either 24 hours basis or whilst on charity business and commuting only or mix and match depending on the role of the person covered. What to cover: This is called a capital and weekly amount, capital refers to a one off payment for permanent injuries e.g. loss of a limb, weekly payments cover temporary injuries e.g. a broken bone and usually has an excess period of a number of weeks, so once an injury has affected someone for X number of weeks the weekly amount will be paid from that point up to the number of weeks stated in the policy. Who to cover: You can have different levels of cover for different types of employees, e.g. senior manager, staff and volunteers with different amounts of cover for each group. What type of pay out: Capital benefits can be either a fixed amount e.g. 5,000 or a percentage of salary e.g. 3 x Salary. Weekly benefits are normally on a fixed amount basis e.g. 100.

15 >>> Would you like protection for staff dishonesty?

16 Fidelity Insurance AND... Do you own a building? Also sometimes known as Fidelity Guarantee, this policy will cover your organisation for loss of money or property as result of employee or volunteer dishonesty. Examples are where a member of staff or a volunteer steals money, commits fraud including computer fraud, embezzles money etc; Fidelity insurance will provide cover for your organisation to recoup such losses. Why would you need this? Often basic money and contents insurance will only provide cover if there is a forced entry into the property e.g. someone breaks in and steals property or money. But if an employee or volunteer, who has keys or access to your premises, steals, this will not come under the scope of the normal contents and money insurance. They may be prosecuted for the theft but if they have spent all the money and are unable to pay it back, the court may not be able to enforce them paying it back to your organisation. Charities are under pressure to operate efficiently and save costs and so it is increasingly common to find staff and volunteers working alone. In times of recession when people s personal finances may be under pressure, this can lead to the temptation of theft of money or goods they don t believe will be missed. There has been a rise in staff/volunteer related theft within charities particularly charity shops, and at fundraising events. Whilst the majority of these have involved relatively modest amounts there have been cases of thousands of pounds of charity money being diverted into personal accounts and going un-detected until subsequent audits despite the organisation having strict systems and checks in place.

17 >>> Do you own a building?

18 Buildings Insurance (Material Damage) AND... Would you lose income or incur extra costs if you couldn t use the building for some reason? Buildings Insurance is sometimes referred to by insurers as Material Damage. If your organisation owns a building, it is important to insure it, as this may be your most valuable asset and if it was damaged through flood, fire or other causes it could be a major financial loss to you. If you have a mortgage on the property holding suitable insurance will be mandatory under the terms of the mortgage. If you rent or borrow your premises you should check with the landlord on the insurance arrangements as in some cases you may be responsible for insuring it. Importance of Valuing your Building Correctly You should insure your building for the full cost of rebuilding it including professional fees and the cost of clearing the site, which will often be very different from the market value. It is important not to underestimate the value of the rebuild cost; with property insurance there is a term known as average that is applied by insurers. This means that in the event of a claim if you are under-insured, any settlement on the claim will be reduced proportionally. Example: if the rebuild value of the property is 200,000 and you only insure it for 100,000, then an insurance company will only pay 50% of any claim you make. Insurance companies recognise that building values can fluctuate so they may allow some flexibility in the declared value of around 15%. Insurers also automatically apply a buildings inflation factor at each renewal to ensure the rebuild value tracks buildings cost inflation annually but it is recommended that you get your building valued every 3 years.

19 Business Interruption Insurance AND... Do you own contents? e.g. furniture/ computers/ stock Business interruption cover protects an organisation in a situation where they cannot use their premises for their work because the premises has been badly affected due to an incident such as flooding, fire and other incidents rendering the premises unsuitable or unsafe for use. Whilst your building insurance will pay to restore your building this can take time, the site will have to be cleared, and often in the case of a total rebuild planning permission will have to be sought. During this down time you may be unable to deliver your services and lose income, lose systems and records, have additional expenses in relocating and if you rent out any part of your premises you may lose rent. Business Interruption cover will pay an amount to cover the shortfall in income/revenue and pays any increased costs of running the organisation as a result of the event and it is usually taken out in conjunction with buildings insurance. You can decide what you insure as outlined below: Loss of Income/revenue If the building is very specialist e.g. sound proofed room for hearing testing, or an activity centre, you may not be able to hire an alternative, in which case your only option may be to cease functioning until the building is completed. In this case you are likely to lose income. This covers your usual income less costs you are not incurring due to inactivity. It is worth noting most policies will not cover income from grants and donations, so if this is your main income source you should consult your insurance provider before you buy this cover or you may find it will be inadequate if you need to make a claim. You will be asked for a sum insured (the amount of income you want to cover) and length of cover, usually in 12,18,24,36 month options. Additional Expenses You can rent alternative premises while your building is being rebuilt, it is likely you will incur costs, you may also incur printing and marketing costs to inform your customers of a change of address. You should consider the market rate for hiring a suitable alternative building and any other costs you will incur. You should again insure for the amount of additional expense anticipated per year and specify a time frame. If your organisation has multiple buildings in different places it is unlikely that you will lose them all at one time. You may have the option of moving operations into one of your own alternative buildings, saving on additional expenses. If this isn t possible you can look at apportioning specific incomes to each of the sites and cover business interruption on a building by building basis. This is a good way or lowering your premium on this type of cover. You should discuss this option with your broker.

20 >>> Do you own contents? e.g. furniture / computers / stock

21 Contents Insurance & All Risks Insurance Whether an organisation has its own buildings or not, most will own some contents and equipment. These could be anything from furniture, stock, office equipment, to portable audio and activities equipment. Loss or damage to these could be costly to replace. As with buildings cover, the value of replacing the contents should be correctly declared and under insurance of these could lead to insurers applying average in the event of a claim. Standard Contents cover vs. All Risks cover Standard Contents cover generally only covers the items whilst on the premises. If however your contents need to be removed from your premises and you take it out and about or it is used at different locations e.g. mobile equipment, it should be covered for All Risks. Articles such as laptops, mobile phones and equipment e.g. sports or activities equipment used outdoors are good examples of contents and equipment needing All Risks cover. Some very high value items whether under standard Contents cover or All Risks cover may also have to be individually itemised in the policy with individually declared values. Sadly it is only at the point of claim many people realise their insurance has gaps leaving them with a loss. We also see at times that organisations are over insured through different policies duplicating cover or often it is in-effective for their activities and wasting valuable charity funds. It is therefore important to get advice for your particular needs as every organisation and its activities are unique. Please note that items such as cars and boats are generally not included in Contents or All Risk cover and have to be insured under more specific policies. Examples >

22 Contents Insurance & All Risks Insurance AND... Do you keep money? e.g. cash, cheques etc. Examples: A charity providing sports and play experience for disabled children kept all their sports equipment locked in a shed. The shed was broken into and the equipment stolen, on trying to claim on their insurance policy which the charity bought in good faith through the internet, they discovered exclusions on the policy and were unable to claim. They had to withdraw their services for the children until enough money could be raised to replace all the equipment. The fund raising showed high levels of public support for their charity, money that could have been used to provide extra services to more children, if they had taken specialist advice and bought a suitable insurance policy as opposed to the lowest cost cover. During a charity fundraising event, a laptop went missing. When the charity tried to make a claim for it, assuming it was covered under their Contents policy learned that it should have been on All Risks cover and therefore could not claim for it. In trying to save money due to funds being tight, they bought the basic cover but ended up out of pocket.

23 >>> Do you keep money? e.g. cash, cheques etc.

24 Money Insurance AND... Do you provide advice or treatment? This provides cover specifically for money held on the organisation s premises or in transit for which the organisation is responsible for and becomes lost or stolen perhaps due to a break in or assault. This may be coins, cash, cheques, giros, vouchers, stamps, postal orders etc. Even if your organisation doesn t generally keep money on the premises or handle large amounts of cash, you may hold a fundraising or other event; money taken from sale of tickets and goods at the event as well as other proceeds such as subscriptions or membership fees collected may need to be kept on your premises overnight. Your employee or volunteer may have to take the monies home at the end of the event until they can get to a bank the following day. Should they have a break in at their home and the funds are stolen, they may not be able to, or indeed wish to claim under their personal household insurance. In such a situation, your money would be covered under the organisation s Money cover. Money Insurance may also compensate for bodily injury to you or your staff/volunteers as a result of assault or attempted assault while carrying the organisation s money. Limits of Cover The policy allows you to protect different amounts depending on where the money is kept, with a lower value e.g. up to 500 if kept simply in a locked tin or drawer and higher amount e.g. up-to 5,000 if kept in a safe. Different insurers will have slightly different limits which they will cover. Money kept in a safe will also only be covered up to the safe value, so if you buy 5,000 limit of cover, but keep it in a safe suitable for up to 2,500 you will only be covered for 2,500. Excess on Money Cover Typical excess on Money cover is around 100 so you should check this as if the maximum amount of money your organisation is likely to ever have at one time on the premises is only 100 or less, it may not worthwhile buying this cover.

25 Do you provide advice or treatment?

26 Professional Indemnity Insurance AND... Are you a company limited by guarantee? Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance, sometimes also referred to as Professional Liability insurance provides protection for the policyholder against a claim by another individual or organisation for a breech or alleged breach, error or omission of your professional duty. Even if unfounded and you wish to challenge it, the PI insurance will pay for the legal cost of defending the allegations and if a court subsequently finds against you then damages and awards are also covered. Many voluntary organisations think that Professional Indemnity cover is only needed if involved with providing professional services such as legal, technical, financial etc. However, a charity giving advice or providing training, particularly if you charge a fee for the services, should consider Professional Indemnity cover, as this would protect you if someone alleges that you have advised them incorrectly causing them a financial loss. If your activities involve any sort of physical treatment you can include a treatment extension in the policy to cover physical harm caused from your professional negligence. However, if you are just signposting people where to look to get more information Professional Indemnity cover may not be needed but the activities of charities can evolve and grow and over time fall under the scope of professional advice. Therefore it is important to review your activities regularly and consider whether you need to take out PI cover. Key information Insurers will need To provide Professional Indemnity cover, insurers will want to know the qualifications your staff has to be able to offer advice to your service users, as well as the type and level of advice you are giving and any fees you charge, any current or past claims made actual or alleged. You don t have to be charging a fee to warrant having Professional Indemnity cover; however it is just one of the factors an insurer will look at. Examples where youth charities may face professional negligence claims: You may be training children in sports and instruct them incorrectly, causing them an injury. You may be counselling bereaved children and they or their parents may feel you did more harm than good. You may be advising on training or benefits young people are entitled to and advise them incorrectly causing them to lose out financially directly or indirectly.

27 >>> Are you a company limited by guarantee?

28 >>> Would your trustees like cover for their personal omissions or misadministration of the charity?

29 >>> Are you run by trustees?

30 Trustees Indemnity Insurance Trustees are ultimately responsible for a charity s management and decisions therefore any financial losses incurred arising from any wrongful act e.g. where the trustees failed to discharge their duties, may result in them being personally liable to make good the charity s losses. The Trustees Indemnity cover can provide protection to Trustees where they may be held personally liable. The allegation could come from either the charity itself for losses incurred by the charity due to a Trustee s actions e.g. inappropriate use of charity funds or entering into contracts not in the interest of the organisation. Or it may be an allegation from a third party where that party has suffered a financial loss due to any actual or alleged actions by the charity and/or its Trustees. Limiting Trustees Liability If the charity is not incorporated i.e. it is not a company that is limited by guarantee, it has no legal personality and therefore it is the trustees who will be held personally liable if the charity has insufficient funds to meet its financial obligations. Trustees often volunteer to help well deserved causes without realising that they could potentially lose their home if the charity is unable to meet its debts. The Trustees Indemnity Insurance policy will help provide peace of mind. If however a charity is incorporated and they are a company limited by guarantee, this provides greater peace of mind for Trustees as it is the company who will be liable for any debts arising. However as a limited charity company, it may still be worth considering Trustees Indemnity Insurance as the limited guarantee element only applies if the loss incurred causes the organisation to go into administration. It is also worth noting that if the Trustees/Directors acted improperly or fraudulently, whatever their charity status, they can be held personally liable and in this situation Trustee Indemnity Insurance policy would not respond anyway. Individual Cover and Entity Cover Trustees Indemnity Insurance policies are intended to provide protection for Trustees as individuals where they find themselves personally liable. However often third parties bring the claim against the organisation and the Trustee may find that he/she is unable to use the policy because the policy wording expressly excludes claims made in the name of the organisation. It is therefore important to make sure both individual Trustees and Entity defence are covered in the policy you take out. Example >

31 Trustee Indemnity Insurance AND... Are your activities licenced or regulated? Example: Extract From a blog: As a trustee of an unincorporated charity that has become insolvent, I am currently being chased for debts that the charity owes. The charity became insolvent by the negligence and dishonesty of some of the staff that worked for the charity. Two of the ex-employees, one which was the manager has lodged employment tribunal claims against the charity as once the charity became insolvent all staff s employment was ended and the Charity were unable to pay any redundancy or holiday pay, am I also liable for redundancy payments and advice would be much appreciated. One ex-employee worked at the charity for 11 years and the other employee 3 years.

32 >>> Are your activities licenced or regulated?

33 Loss of Licence Insurance You may hold a licence to carry out part or all of your service, e.g. you may run an activity centre and campsite and have a bar on site with a licence to serve alcohol or you may be a children s care home and have to have a licence to operate. AND... Do you own any vehicles? There are two types of cover you can buy to protect your licence: Cover which will provide legal help in appealing a decision to remove your licence. Cover which will compensate for the loss of value in your company if it no longer has a licence to operate some or all of your services.

34 >>> Do you own any vehicles?

35 Motor Insurance If your charity owns vehicles that are used on a public road or place, you must by law insure them; as a minimum this should be third party cover but you may wish to take out fully comprehensive cover for all round protection. AND... Do staff and volunteers travel away from the premises? Insurance companies classify motor vehicles into groups from 1-50 with 1 being the lowest risk and cost and based on the power of the vehicle, replacement cost and likelihood of theft and accident. If you have a few vehicles usually between 3-5 or more you can take out fleet cover which means that the vehicles are rated as a fleet with one rate applying to all vehicles, rather than on an individual vehicle basis and is more cost effective. You have the option to have one named driver or can specify a number of drivers, or take a policy on an any driver basis, which means anyone who you give permission to drive your vehicle will be insured to drive the vehicle. This can be particularly useful if you depend on volunteers and want the freedom to allow anyone to drive your vehicle at short notice. Many insurers will be able to include breakdown cover as part of your policy with discounted rates; it is worth checking the cost of buying through your insurer as well as taking separate breakdown cover.

36 >>> Do staff and volunteers travel away from the premises?

37 Travel Insurance AND... Do you take responsibility for organising events? It is extremely important for organisations to have suitable travel insurance cover as off the shelf travel insurance policies cater for the holiday market or standard corporate business travel. Staff and volunteers may be sent to far flung places in remote regions for extended periods; the safety and well being of their personnel is a key priority. Thus charities often have more specialist travel insurance needs. As well as medical expenses and repatriation which are the main aspects we associate travel insurance with, it also includes cover for the trip being cancelled and compensation for costs, delays, trip curtailment, damaged, lost or delayed baggage and damage or loss of personal items and cash. You can extend cover to include kidnap and ransom, and winter sports including piste rescue if required. UK Trips Some charities only undertake trips within the UK, and often people do not take out travel insurance as the medical treatment is available through the NHS. Your charity may also have a personal accident policy that will provide some of the expenses if someone is injured. However if for example you are booking accommodation for people in advance and the trip was cancelled you may lose your deposits and other expenses paid up-front such as flights, trains etc would not be covered and a UK travel insurance policy would provide protection for this. Group Trips for children and young people As an organisation working with children or young people you may undertake group trips abroad for activities as well as respite and such trips form a core part of the charity s work; the travellers may have special medical conditions which can be more complex to obtain from standard policies and specialist providers are needed to ensure suitable protection.

38 >>> Do you take responsibility for organising events?

39 Charity or Community Events Insurance AND... Do you have plant machinery or equipment requiring inspection? e.g. A lift/ large play equiptment? If your charity or group is organising an event you may not be covered under your annual insurance policy for the event, and may need to protect your costs and risk associated with the event by taking out Event cover. You can take out the following benefits covered under event insurance: Public Liability Which will cover your organisation s liability for injury to attendees and also any damage to third party property, this can be important if you are running an event with lots of children as when they are running around and playing they can sometimes cause damage. All Risks This can cover any property and equipment hired or borrowed just for the event and which you are responsible for. Event Cancellation Cover If the event cannot go ahead for reasons outside of your control, you may have already incurred costs such as deposits or still be contracted to pay money out, Cancellation cover will cover this loss. t all reasons for cancellation will be covered so check policy wording or ask your broker if you have queries, a common exclusion is adverse weather where it may not be covered at all or you may not be able to reclaim all your losses if the event is cancelled for this reason. Event Insurance often excludes certain activities such as fireworks or bonfires which may need to be added in specifically so it is important that you discuss your event with your insurance provider e.g. what activities you are doing at the event, numbers of attendees and duration of the event etc.

40 >>> Do you have plant machinery or equipment requiring inspection? e.g. A lift/large play equipment?

41 Engineering Insurance AND... in conclusion... If you have technical equipment such as zip wires, lifts or boilers etc, many of which by law need regular inspection by a competent person you can take out Engineering Inspection Insurance which provides an inspection service. You can also insure the equipment for damage. If a lift cables snaps or a boiler blows up it may also cause damage to the surrounding area as well as the boiler/lift and shaft. >>>

42 Finally About Unity Insurance Services Unity Insurances Services is a specialist insurance provider for youth charities. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Scout Association, Unity Insurance Services was established to assist all charities and voluntary organisations throughout the UK who work with young people in particular. All profits are donated back to charity to provide youth services in the community. We provide bespoke insurance advice, guidance and solutions and can help whether you are an umbrella body, association or national charity with complex or diverse insurance needs, or a local community voluntary group that needs some help. We hope you have found this guide useful in explaining the type of insurance covers your charity may need to consider. If you have been unable to find the cover specific to your needs or would like further information or to discuss your insurance please contact Unity on: Unity Insurance Services, Suites 10 & 10A The Quadrant, 60 Marlborough Road, Lancing Business Park, Lancing, West Sussex BN15 8UW info@unityinsuranceservices.co.uk back to start Version 1.1 October 2014