Businesses are being turned down for claims on their Business Interruption Insurance policy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Often their brokers or insurers are telling them that their cover is not valid for a claim due to the impact of a pandemic. They may still have a valid claim.
On May 1st 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intended to seek clarity on the availability of business interruption insurance by seeking a declaratory judgment through the courts. This will be helpful, but complex because of the huge variety of wording used in policies covering business interruption. It is unlikely to produce a speedy outcome and could cause more harm by giving insurers the opportunity to delay paying out on claims pending a court decision.
It is important in these uncertain times for businesses to plan for the future with some clear idea as to whether or not they might be able to plan on some sort of payout under their insurance policies. Whilst insurance brokers do represent the interests of their clients, they tend to be mouthpieces for the insurance companies whose policies they sell.
There may be other ways of recovering some funds from your insurers and we recommend that you seek a second opinion if you are not satisfied with any response received from your broker.
If you feel that you might have a claim, we would be happy to help you and would refer you to our briefing page at https://ukba.co.uk/business-interruption-cover/