Is your business insured for COVID19?

As inescapable as COVID19 now is, the unknown and uncertainty of what may / may not happen in the next few weeks is causing all sorts of issues throughout the world. In the UK, businesses are starting to experience interrupted supply chains and delayed orders through to cancelled appointments/meetings, working from home arrangements for employees and reducing sales.

What lies ahead over the next few weeks for UK businesses is still largely unclear. In a hugely challenging (and constantly moving) environment, a key question is: "do you have any business interruption cover for COVID19 within your business insurance?"

Although I cannot commend specifically whether you do or do not have cover, I can help point you in the right direction to find the answers yourself; here we go!

Do I have any cover? Generally, some insurers specify Notifiable Disease extension within their Business Interruption policy wording. If you have this extension then you will have what's called an "inner limit" which will be noted on your insurance schedule. It is important to understand that policies which provide Notifiable Disease cover will specifically state that the cover only activities in the event of the closure of your premises due to a notifiable disease being discovered at or near your premises.

The exact definition will be defined in your policy wording.

What is a Notifiable Disease? If you look through your Policy Wording (under definitions) you should find Notifiable Disease listed and defined.

• Some insurers specifically list the Notifiable Diseases in their policy wording where for which they provide cover. If this is the case then it is very likely that you will have no cover for a COVID19 occurrence at your premises.
• Other insurers refer to the government position as noted on this website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notifiable-diseases-and-causative-organisms-how-to-report. If this is the case then you are in a far better position as COVID19 has been declared as a Notifiable Disease by the government so you may have cover.

If I am covered, how do I claim? You will need to speak to your broker as the first point of call. They will be able to advise you on how to submit a claim should you be affected by a COVID19 outbreak at your premises which results in an interruption to your business. Please though understand that you will need to qualify the interruption loss to your business and/or qualify the additional costs incurred by your business for a claim to be considered by your insurers.

As this type of Business Interruption loss will be very difficult (in some cases) to qualify, you need to get advice from your insurance broker and/or loss adjusters to see what information will be required to ensure that you will have a successful claim.

Please through remember that you are contractually bound by your insurance policy to inform your insurers at the earliest opportunity of any potential claim.

Should I have the cover? The answer unclear as Business Interruption cover is probably the most complicated part of any insurance programme. Notifiable Diseases cover forms just one of the many extensions and inner limits available within this section of your insurance policy. To have Notifiable Disease section included it is likely that there would have been a charge associated.

As this COVID19 outbreak is quite an unprecedented event, it would be difficult to qualify whether you should/should not have this cover as it may not have been available and/or your decision to buy this cover may have been driven by many other factors.

Can I buy Notifiable Disease cover if I don't have it? You need to speak to your broker and discuss this with them. I would though imagine that it is very unlikely that you would be able to buy this cover at this time in consideration of the current situation with COVID19. Your broker would be able to clarify this position for you.

Finally, despite the above observations noted in this article around general policy design, I am unable to provide legal or contractual advice in terms of the adherence with the terms and conditions of your own insurance policies. As such I would strongly recommend for you to speak with your broker and get their guidance on specific issues.

If you still require help then please feel free to get in touch with me and I will happily see if I can be of assistance: [email protected]

#Insurance #covid19uk #InsuranceCovid19 #BusinessInterruption