Covid19 – Important Insurance Considerations For Businesses

Covid19 has drastically changed our lives for the time being, but there are some important insurance considerations for businesses which we want to share with you. Never in our lifetimes has an event had such a swift and unexpected impact on our economy and day to day lives. But whilst we are all being swept along with how to protect our incomes and what to do to ensure we comply with government guidelines; here are some important tips that you need to think about as a business from an insurance perspective.

Cover – The main and most immediate impact on us all is financial, there may be cover reductions that you can make during this time, such as stock or potentially laying up and SORN declaring vehicles which are not in use. Some insurers will provide reduced insurance rates to lay vehicles up. Be careful that you understand the cover that vehicles are being reduced to and insure that there are no implications with finance arrangements or lease companies.

Property – Vast swathes of business premises are now unoccupied… most insurance policies have unnocupancy conditions in them which normally reduce the cover for unoccupied properties or impose increased excesses or obligations. Speak to your us about this if your property is unoccupied. This is particularly important to property owners also whose tenants have closed their business temporarily. Most insurers are currently issuing guidance and changing their stance on this to help clients, but if in doubt….ask.

Computers and Business Assets – With businesses closing temporarily and people working from home, many businesses are now distributing business equipment to peoples homes and away from the main premises. Most insurance policies have cover for items at the premises, covering assets on a wider territorial limits is an optional cover. Please make sure your insurer is covering those assets whilst they are away from your premises. Businesses assets are not normally covered under your employees home insurance. As above, many insurers are issuing blanket guidance on automatically increasing cover, but speak to your us and we will check.

Home insurance – whilst many home workers are only doing clerical work, others are doing more than this. It is worth checking with your home insurance provider that you are covered to work from home or conduct business from home. Many insurers are relaxing their stance on this temporarily but as always… Speak to our personal lines team to make sure.

Premium Finance – Premium finance providers have contracts directly with policyholders. Some of these providers are willing to offer payment holidays or reduced payments in the short term and will deal with these requests on a case by case basis. If immediate cash flow is your concern, it is worth looking at this option and liaising with the provider.

As the situation is evolving there are some great resources for information such as our trade body www.biba.org.uk and the gov.uk website.

In the meantime, Ravenhall teams are available and working, here to provide you with as much support as we can in this time for our contact details please click here 

Covid19 – Important Insurance Considerations For Businesses