Business Interruption Cover lifeline for some small businesses
Posted on 15th January 2021 at 15:46
It was announced today that the Supreme Court judgement ruled in favour of policyholders and therefore, some businesses may be able to submit a valid claim under the Business Interruption section of their policy, for the loss of income sustained by the business during the March 2020 lockdown.
Whilst the Supreme Court judgement is positive news for policyholders, each insurer has different policy wordings and therefore cover varies between each insurer. It is possible that cover may not be granted and there is no guarantee that a successful claim can be made.
It is important to note that the judgement has been made in response to the review of policy wordings from only 8 different insurers, just a small proportion of our insurer panel.
The outcome of the court case was released only a short-time ago. Each insurer on our panel will require time to digest the verdict and provide us with further guidance, as to how their individual policies will respond to potential claims under the Business Interruption section of the policy - if at all.
Due to the high volume of claim notification requests we are expecting, we are asking those policyholders with Business Interruption cover, who have suffered a loss and want to submit a claim to their insurer, to report this directly to the insurer who provided insurance cover which spanned the duration of the first lockdown in March 2020.
In order to submit a claim, policyholders should:
- Identify the insurer that provided cover over for the year that included March 2020 and make a note of the policy number
- Refer to your policy wording to locate the insurer’s claim helpline number (the insurer’s policy wording will have been issued along with your initial quotation documents or renewal invitation documents). Alternatively the claims helpline number may be noted on the policy schedule
- Contact the insurer directly to submit a claim request and be sure to make a record of the claim reference number
The insurer will then advise the next steps.
If there are any problems during the claims process we will be on hand to assist with any queries you may have and to provide you with advice and guidance.
We await further guidance from our insurers and will provide updates as and when we are able to.
We appreciate your cooperation during these times and can assure you that we are working hard behind the scenes, to achieve positive outcomes for as many of our policyholders as possible and endeavour to be at your service, at your side – commercial insurance with a personal touch.
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