liability insurance U.K

General
1

hey there,. can anyone out there help me with getting liability insurance in the u.k.?

i’ve tried foning several companies and none have liability insurance for “perfromers”. im hoping to do uni riding and juggling (maybe at the same time!) i need insurnace so i get start doing shows with the council here.

hopefully somone out there can help me!! PLEASE!
bungle!

www.woodenchipmunks.tk

2

I’m an insurance claims investigator, and I’ve spent much of the last 20 years or more dealing with claims involving an element of public liability, including motor, household and trade.

Insurance - liability insurance in particular - is a field rich in myth and legend. Most of what you hear isn’t true.

Firstly, if you are pretty sensible, the risk of a claim being made against you is almost negligible. For you to be successfully sued under English law, you need a whole series of things:

  1. An incident has to happen in the first place.
  2. Someone has to suffer an injury or loss worth making a fuss about.
  3. They have to be the sort of person who makes the effort to sue you. (Not as common as the popular press would have you believe.)
  4. They have to show to the satisfaction of a court that the accident or loss was the result of your negligence or breach of statutory duty.
  5. Then they have to show to the satisfaction of a court that their financial loss, or entitlement to compensation arose from the accident.
  6. You are entitled to argue that they were partly to blame either for the accident or for part of the loss.
  7. You are entitled to argue that the accident was partly or wholly the fault of someone else such as the event organiser, or the owner of the premises.

So, don’t go through life being worried about being sued.

That said, most people organising events will expect performers to have some form of Public Liability insurance. This is the insurance which is there to deal with any claim made by a member of the public who has been injured or had property lost or damaged as a result of an incident.

If you are performing in your own right and as a private individual, not charging (e.g. a one-off display at a local fete) then you will almost certainly be insured under the Family and Occupier’s Liability Section of your household contents insurance.

If you are performing as part of a troupe or band, and/or charging, then you may well need a special Public Liability policy.

Because the risk is so small (almost negligible, in fact) the premium ought to be very small indeed. However, insurers tend to overcharge for anything a little bit unusual, partly to cover the additional admin, and partly because they have little experience of the actual risks presented by an unusual activity, and play safe. Insurance is all about probability and statistics; without data, it is impossible for them to assess the risk.

If you already have a connection with an insurer - especially a household insurer - it might be a good idea to start with them. Most insurers are reluctant to offer cover for unusual risks to people who don’t already have core business with them.

Failing that, you could buy a copy of The Stage, a weekly newspaper for the performing public, which may well have details of specialist brokers and agents.

On matters of general insurance advice, I’m always willing to answer genuine questions. You can PM me.

Mike

3

Here’s a link to the website for The Stage:

4

Here’s a copy and paste from the same site:

Musical equipment/props cover. All risks cover UK/Europe, worldwide, premises only, unattended vehicle.

Public Liability Insurance also available. Ring Equity Insurance Services on 0845 7441111 . A trading name of Robert J Hurst Ltd, member of the General Insurance Standards Council.

5

These people may also be able to point you in the right direction:

6

Dixon Chalmers do liability which covers most circus performance except trapeze and tightrope acts.

I think they’re the only people who’ll cover fire performance. I’ve known a few people who have liability cover with them. They do it on a yearly basis starting in Autumn some time, which means if you buy it in June it’s poor value. I think it costs about £90 a year last time I heard.

If you’ve got proof of performances, you can get cover with Equity (the performer’s union type thing), they only cover people who are real performers. I think they won’t cover fire if you like burning stuff though.

More on it here, although I’m not sure if it’s up to date -

<http://www.jugglingdb.com/articles/index.php?id=44&viewall=true>

I think pretty much any public body requires liability insurance nowadays for performers, I know when I was asked to unicycle at a school fete I was required to get insurance to do it.

Joe

7

Re: liability insurance U.K

Dixon Chalmers are now under the umbrella of Country Mutual,
give 'em a ring on
01952 641321
They’re very helpful…
and it closer to double what Joe suggested depending on the value
of equity you go for…

Andy

joemarshall wrote:
> Dixon Chalmers do liability which covers most circus performance
except
> trapeze and tightrope acts.
>
> I think they’re the only people who’ll cover fire performance. I’ve
> known a few people who have liability cover with them. They do it on
a
> yearly basis starting in Autumn some time, which means if you buy it
in
> June it’s poor value. I think it costs about =A390 a year last time I
> heard.
>
> If you’ve got proof of performances, you can get cover with Equity
(the
> performer’s union type thing), they only cover people who are real
> performers. I think they won’t cover fire if you like burning stuff
> though.
>
> More on it here, although I’m not sure if it’s up to date -
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/9z7wu>
>
> I think pretty much any public body requires liability insurance
> nowadays for performers, I know when I was asked to unicycle at a
school
> fete I was required to get insurance to do it.
>
> Joe
>
>
> –
> joemarshall - dumb blonde
>

> joemarshall’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1545
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39858

8

for a club in the UK ( NOT solo performer) its worth looking at the Community choice policey from Zurich Municiple. Two or three uni clubs are already covered by them. It covers club kit, some money and PLI for volunteers during club events. read the small print tho.

SArah