Preparing for floods

Good sources for flood planning information are the Environment Agency (EA) or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) websites. You’ll find help to determine if your business is at risk of flooding, formulate a flood plan, prepare for flooding and know what to do if a flood does occur. You can also sign up for free flood warnings.

Flood forecasting, warnings and alerts

Both EA and SEPA work with local authorities to provide advice and information to the public before and during flood emergencies and can be contacted 24 hours a day via a dedicated floodline number:

0845 988 1188
For coastal and riverside areas with a high risk of flooding, these agencies will also be able to tell you whether more localised flood warning information is available via dedicated telephone numbers (e.g. quick dial codes).

The symbols and messages used in EA and SEPA flood warnings have recently been changed to make them easier to understand and to give clearer guidance about what action people need to take. Click here to learn more about specific flood warning messages.

Automatic weather alerts

To be kept further informed of both potential severe weather and possible flooding, you may wish to sign up for automatic alerts available from:

Met Office severe weather email warning service
EA’s / SEPA’s floodline warnings direct service.

Be prepared and stay safe.

Source:- Allianz Commercial

What is more, the typical amount claimed on a fraudulent credit hire claim is about five times higher than a traditional credit hire claim.

Increased fraud activity is usually blamed on the economic downturn – we don’t think this is the case with credit hire. This particular brand of fraud isn’t the work of rogue individuals looking for a quick buck – generally speaking, it’s the work of organised gangs who are simply exploiting credit hire more than ever before.

There is no way of knowing how many of these gangs exist, but there are hundreds of them across the uk. Many of them will be very small outfits, yet they can be running hundreds of claims at any one time. Beating them is a big challenge, so if you suspect anything, tell us immediately.

This will include hospital treatment and ambulance costs claimed by the NHS.

For private property owners, this protection is generally included in a household policy. For most businesses, any claim arising from your ownership of a property would be included in your public liability cover. Where you insure your contents and business, and a landlord insures the premises, make sure that property owners’  liability is included in at least one of these policies.

By law, an employer must have EL insurance and be insured for at least £5 million. Most insurers automatically provide cover of at least £10 million.

If your business is not a limited company, and you are the only employee or you only employ close family members, you do not need compulsory EL insurance. Limited companies with only one employee, where the employee also owns 50 per cent or more of the issued share capital in the company, are also exempt from compulsory EL insurance.

The Health & safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for enforcing the law on EL insurance. You can be fined up to £2,500 for each day that you do not have appropriate insurance.

What the insurance covers

PL Insurance covers any awards of damages given to a member of the public because of an injury or damage to their property caused by you or your business. It also covers any related:-

• Legal fees
• Costs
• Expenses
• Hospital treatment, including ambulance costs, that the NHS may claim from you.

Premiums are based on the type of business and rated on an estimate for the level of activity of the business. For most businesses this will be turnover, although other factors may be used.

There are many conditions, exclusions and warranties that can be applied to PL policies. It is therefore important that you discuss your policy with us at R G Ford Insurance Brokers Ltd to insure that it meets your needs.

For most small to medium sized risks, the insurer will use a book rate, or average rate, which is based on the claims they have paid out to similar businesses. The insurer will use this rate to calculate the premium using a factor that reflects the amount of activity undertaken by the business. For employers’ liability insurance, payroll is usually used to reflect the amount of activity. For public and products liability insurance, turnover is usually used.

The insurer may adjust the resulting premium to reflect positive features such as a good claims record or good risk management, or negative features such as a poor claims record.

For large or very large cases the insurer may calculate the premium based on the business’ claim record over a number of years, if it is relative stable.

Author:- Linda Percival

linda@hrdept.co.uk

Claims have reached some impressive landmarks over the last year, with Aviva’s Dedicated Claims outsourcing company – Asprea racking up over 500,000 claims so far. Asprea hit the half million mark on 9 November at 10.38am, which got them thinking how it can be a struggle to convey the sheer volume of things with numbers alone.  So how could they better illustrate their achievements?

• In 2011 Asprea laid enough flooring to cover Guernsey (98km2).
• This year they could’ve painted the whole island of Barbados (428km2).
• Supply Chain purchased enough wallpaper in 2011 to span the length of the UK; from the bottom of the Scilly Isles to the tip of Shetland.
• They buy enough TVs a year to give two each to the population of Monte Carlo.
• They replace the equivalent of 20 people’s weight in jewellery every year

article sourced from Aviva Web Site: http://broker.aviva.co.uk/the-loop/article/24314/amazing-facts-from-the-world-of-claims/

It wasn’t just the horse that bolted:
Matt Miller, a broker from Moore Robinson Limited, contacted Aviva Insurance with this cautionary tale relating to an employer’s liability claim.

“A few years back, I was ringing a claims department for an update on an employer’s liability claim in which an employee had been knocked down by a horse while working on a farm.

“The employee had claimed for future loss of earnings as a result of his injuries. A reasonable enough claim under the circumstances, but the claims department told me they would be contesting this. When I asked why, they informed me that the employee was actually an escaped prisoner and given he was supposed to be in prison at the time, and therefore not earning anything, they felt claiming for future loss of earnings was a bit rich!”

Article Sourced from : http://broker.aviva.co.uk/the-loop/article/24254/it-wasn8217t-just-the-horse-that-bolted/

Published: 2012-01-11 09:45:28

The survey into young drivers’ views of motor insurance, undertaken ahead of the Transport Select Committee re-opening of the inquiry into motor insurance, also found that a fifth (21%) of respondents had considered driving without insurance because of the high cost of premiums.

Responses also indicated that nearly a third (30%) of those surveyed had considered altering the information they provided to insurance firms in order to secure a lower quote.

More than half (57%) of young drivers were unaware that, after an accident, insurance firms often pass personal details to a solicitor, car hire firm or garage in return for a referral fee.

Committee chair, Louise Ellman MP, commented ‘ I am extremely concerned about these results, which show that young drivers think they are being priced off the road because of the high cost of motor insurance. It is extremely shocking that so many young drivers are considering breaking the law – by driving without insurance or changing the details they provide to insurers – in order to get a cheaper premium.’

Ms Ellman added ‘It’s revealing that most young drivers are also unaware that many insurers receive referral fees in order to deal with claims they make. This highlights why the Committee called for referral fees to be made more transparent in its report on the cost of motor insurance earlier this year.

‘I will be putting the results of this survey to Ministers when the appear before the Transport Select Committee later today.’

Source:- Insurance Age
Author:- Emmanuel Kenning