David Balen, Chairman, Balens, Specialist Insurance Brokers
I am sure that you (like me) are frustrated in our various ways about the current ongoing situation, there is surely much our sector can do to add value and alleviate suffering but we are all “locked down” in various ways by the current health paradigm.
Your ThinkTree Hub team have asked me to give you some insights into Covid and the current Insurance Scene.
Professional Liability Insurance
As major Brokers for the Health and Wellbeing sector, the unwavering position of Balens is as follows: –
- Your insurance may be invalidated if you fail to follow specific UK Government Guidance and the Law, as all Malpractice Insurance Policies normally exclude Criminal Acts, and have general conditions about not deliberately causing harm.
- Please remember that you also have a Common Law duty to exercise due care and not to deliberately cause harm.
Therapists must follow all Government Guidelines applicable to their specific location at any given point in time as the minimum. We would additionally expect them to follow their Professional Association (PA) advice and guidance, if applicable, even if this exceeds Government requirements.
If you choose not to follow your PA guidance, I suggest you fully document your decisions explaining your reasons. In the event of a claim, choosing not to follow what may be considered current best practice for your discipline, or causing harm by not following guidance, may be called into question and weaken your defence.
For those without a PA, we would expect you to exercise due diligence over and above Government requirements, if you feel that this will produce a safer environment for your clients.
When working with online consultations, ensure this is covered within your Professional Liability (PL) Insurance (as is standard for Balens PL policies). Do also keep up your usual professional note-taking standards.
Getting back to work
We have been asked if insurers require you to make additional changes when you are back in practice. Neither Balens, as brokers, nor the insurers are making any specific new requirements or changes to our PL policy. Although this may change in future as the Insurance market responds to world events, and may not currently be the case for other polices on the market.
However, as mentioned above you need to observe your Common Law duty to mitigate any potential losses and comply with Government and where applicable, your PA guidelines; Think Tree have produced much useful material for you, which is regularly updated.
I would also recommend you check your policy general terms and conditions, (which should chime with your professional codes of conduct and ethics), in requiring you to reasonably reduce the risk of harm, loss or injury to others.
Premises Insurance Issues
Business Interruption Insurance
We understand that many of our Commercial clients, who have Business Interruption (BI) as part of their insurance policy may have assumed or expected that they had have cover in place for pandemics. Insurance Policies are legal contracts and as such are specific about what they will and will not include. Clearly no Insurance policy can cover every eventuality, and although the main potential risks are generally covered in a BI policy, such as fire, flood, burglary, accidental damage etc., there will be restrictions.
Business Interruption has, as standard through the industry, always been triggered specifically by a claim relating to your insured property and doesn’t cover risks outside of this. As a result, many insurers declined Covid-related loss claims, as they were related to Government Closure, rather than something specific to the premises. This spawned a multitude of complains and the Insurance regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) decided to instigate a legal process, to judge whether policies should respond or not. They invited contributions to the debate and Balens made a submission on our clients’ behalf. The Court determination of the chosen example wordings was given and it was judged that some wordings should definitely pay, although insurers were given leave to appeal, and the process is ongoing.
Insurers are now routinely applying exclusion clauses to cover communicable diseases, pandemics etc., so please check with your business policy, as this will probably become the norm going forward.
Unoccupancy
Although many businesses have re-opened, further areas of the country are now finding increased restrictions again. Normally policy cover for unoccupied premises reduces to fire and explosion risks only after 30 days. Balens have managed to get an extension to 120 consecutive days of unoccupancy from the date the premises are closed for our Business Protection policies – please see our website for full details as there are conditions. If your business premises insurance policy is not with Balens please check with your insurer as to what restrictions may be in place if the premises are unoccupied.
Endpiece
I hope the above may help bring clarity to Insurance and risk management strategies in these uncertain times.
I sincerely hope that the Government will find ways for Health, Wellbeing, Beauty and Fitness Professionals who may not be in the mainstream to more fully play their part in helping those suffering from the after effects of the virus and the lockdown, including in relation to mental and emotional health and wellbeing. I would also like to thank you for all the good work you have done and positivity you bring to society, doing what you love.
During my 50 or so years of interest and involvement in the movement, I have seen a much wider acceptance and inclusion of holistic principles into the mainstream. There has been a significant growth in the skill, experience, professionalism, and commercial success of our sector. You are out there in the frontline helping people – long may that continue!
For further information related to Covid-19 and Insurance Issues please see www.balens.co.uk/Covid