Positive feelings

It’s a new dawn and a new day and I’m feeling good!

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Bet you just sung that with a southern twang?

What gets you going on a Monday morning?

For me its knowing that I can make a real difference to people who care about getting the right advice at the right time. If they are prepared to engage with me and let me find out all about their business then I can understand what they do, assess the exposures and give them the correct advice.

Now we all hope we don’t ever need to use our insurances, but in truth that’s not the real world and with no-win no-fee legal cases on the rise, sooner or later someone disgruntled individual will probably have a go at you, justified or not.

If you have valuable assets, buildings, stock, equipment and machinery, then they must be protected correctly. If they get destroyed, damaged or stolen and your insurance isn’t correct, your claim could be void and you are left holding a very expensive piece of paper.

Getting the correct advice and guidance is essential, suitability is everything and the devil is always in the detail of the wording, which to be honest most policyholders never read.

We do, so you don’t have to.

Want some good advice, free at the point of discussion. Just call 029 20 470375 or message me here.

Have a great week 😊

Professional Indemnity

The odd one out!

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Most liability cover is about two things, DAMAGE to property or INJURY to people. Its really that simple, although of course the devil is always in the detail, but what about the odd one out!

PI Cover (Professional Indemnity) also known as professional liability, is very different. It is not primarily concerned with damage or injury, although there are some examples where this is relevant, but more of that later.

Professional Indemnity deals with:

The FINANCIAL LOSSES suffered by your clients, where they allege that the financial loss is a direct result of your, negligence, errors, or omissions.

That is that you did something wrong, or you failed to do something you should have done, and that “professional failure” led directly to the financial loss.

Now it’s easy to see why this cover generally relates to what are loosely termed the professional classes, such as Solicitors, Accountants, Architects, Surveyors, IFA’s, Stockbrokers, IT Consultants etc… The list goes on and on, but generally speaking anyone who offers a service or provides advice, for a fee, would require PI cover, as their primary concern.

Bodily injury can be covered. So now we are thinking about nurses, doctors, dentists, medical consultants, and other healthcare professionals, where the professional failure could lead to a medical condition or injury. In this context we call PI cover, medical negligence.

Obviously, there are lots of other covers that professionals can arrange, like anyone else, including the standard liabilities and damage to property, but PI would always be their main concern. In a lot of cases the professional bodies to which these individuals and businesses belong require PI cover to be in place before they can transact business.

If you are unsure about whether you need PI cover, or whether it would be advisable, for you or your business, feel free to give us a call 029 20 470375 or just message me here for a no obligation chat.

It could be the most valuable call you ever make.

Have a great weekend 😊

BIBA 2023

BIBA 2023 Manchester Central

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As a proud member of The British Insurance Brokers Association for over 40 years, and now as a board member, I can say without any hesitation that the BIBA conference in May each year, bringing brokers and insurers together in one place for three days, is one of the best and most productive weeks of the year.

This year the theme is “Rising to the Challenge” The BIBA Conference 2023 | The British Insurance Brokers’ Association

If you have annual arrangements you wish to arrange or renew, doing it at the BIBA conference each year is probably the most effective way. The range of providers present and more importantly decision makers, all in one place make for an excellent conference.

Add to that the line up of keynote speakers and sessions each year, bring everyone up to date with what’s new and emerging as well as all the legal and regulatory matters that will affect our businesses going forward over the next 3 – 5 years. If you are an insurance professional #biba2023 is the place to be.

It’s also nice to be in the middle of something which has been in planning for the last 12 months, leading directly from the manifesto which is published in January each year. In 2023 we are #managingrisk & #deliveryingstability.

Looking forward to meeting friends old and new and securing services that will directly benefit our clients going forward.

Have a great week, I know I will.

 

 

 

Construction Workers

All quiet on the construction front!

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Professional indemnity insurance is generally bought by what are loosely called professional service companies, such as architects, accountants, surveyors, IFA’s, solicitors and the like.

What is less widely known is that is often required in the #constructionindustry , especially where a principal contractor engages other firms to complete certain parts of the works.

Any company designing sub-sections of the works like consulting engineers, will be required to have #PIcover and this is normally required to the same level as the principal contractor.

Even electrical contractors may need an element of PI if what they do includes inspection, testing and signing off fixed electrical systems.

I was once asked for PI cover by a sign company. it was completely pointless, if the client wasn’t happy with something, he would just have gone back and fixed it, but because everyone else on the framework had PI he was forced to provide it also.

Not sure if you need PI just drop me a message here or call 02920 470375

Have a great week.

Architects

Do you know what Professional Indemnity policies cover?

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Ok here is the short and simple explanation, they cover:

* Financial Losses
* Suffered by your clients
* Where they allege that
* Those losses are the result of
* Your Negligence, Errors or Omissions

Things where you didnt exercise a reasonable professional skill, things you did wrong or things you didn’t do.

Normally required where advice or a professional service is provided #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time.

Can extend to include things like, slander, libel, loss of documents & remediation.

Bodily injury can be included where the service relates to the provision of medical or human services, normally termed as Medical Negligence.

Want to know more?

Just call us on 029 20 470 375 or message me here.

Have a great week

PI or not PI, that is the question for today?

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Getting quite a lot of leads through the BIBA website for Professional Indemnity risks at the moment, as businesses struggle to find the solutions they need.

Professional Indemnity is about 35% of our business, including the most difficult to place categories, which include:

* The Legal Sector
* IFA’s
* Mortgage Brokers, including Bridging Loans and Foreign Residents
* Design & Construction
* The Renewable Energy Sector

All in a days work at Severn Bay where we have fantastic direct insurer relationships and highly developed London Market operations.

Doesn’t matter where you are in the UK, we can place your business, quickly, efficiently, with great advice and support throughout which is #openhonesttransparent

Just get in touch to see what we can do on 029 20 470 375 or message me here.

Don’t sweat it, let us do it for you.

Contract

Let’s Talk about Insurance basics 101 – Part 3

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One of the main reasons that businesses buy insurance, and in some cases the only reason, is to cover their LIABILITIES. These claims can run into £100’s of thousands of pounds, sometimes millions!

These are the things for which they are legally responsible, which if they mess up have financial impacts on other people, whether that is their employees, members of the public, other businesses or their customers. There are 5 main areas, which are:

EMPLOYERS – Covers damage or injury to employees of your business in the course of their employment. This is required by law. Fines can be up ton£2,500 per day or up to 6 months in jail for principals or directors who fail to arrange the correct cover for their employees. It’s the BIG ONE!

PUBLIC – Covers damage or injury to members of the public, essentially anyone outside your business.

PRODUCTS – Covers damage or injury caused to customers by the product you manufacture, sell or supply.

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY – Covers the financial losses of your customers, where they allege that the financial loss was the result of your professional negligence, errors or omissions, whether or not it caused bodily injury.

DIRECTORS & OFFICERS – Covers the legal costs of defending actions against directors and officers in their personal capacity, for actions against them in relation to their work for the business in which they are employed.

These are the 5 main liabilities businesses look to cover.

There are others which relate to corporate legal liability, employment practice, data protection, tax investigations, property, contract and tenancy disputes, as well as the requirement for debt recovery and statutory licence protection.

In these cases, legal expenses cover is available to cover the cost of defending an action or taking action against someone else.

If you’d like to know more about your specific liabilities, and the duty of care and how liabilities arise, then just get in touch for an informal chat. You might be liable for things of which you weren’t even aware.

Have a great day, don’t worry about these matters, let us do it for you 😊

Chat=reted Insurance Institute

Looking for a salesman?

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Honestly it never feels like that to me.

In society we generally consider the professional classes to include the following trades:

  • Solicitors & Barristers
  • Accountants
  • Architects
  • Surveyors

For some reason, maybe it’s the commission element, professionals in financial services, that is General Insurance, IFA’s & Mortgage Brokers, are seen as salesmen, hell bent on making the most money by inflating prices.

In 99% of cases nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to GAIN or RETAIN a client, inflating prices doesn’t work. They will go elsewhere.

That is despite holding formal and very rigorous qualifications from one of the oldest Chartered Institutes in the country, which is recognised around the world as the gold standard. Starting in 1873, a formal royal charter was granted in 1912. https://www.cii.co.uk/

The CII’s purpose, as set out in its 1912 royal charter, is to ‘Secure and justify the confidence of the public’ in its members and the insurance sector as a whole. It aims to do this through setting standards of integrity, technical competence and business capability.

To make the distinction more obvious in our case, we work on fixed fees, not commission and they are disclosed up-front before our clients make a decision, so they can see they are reasonable in the context of the work completed.

I would rather walk away from paid work if I do not believe the client understands what I’m trying to achieve for them and just wants a cheap job, solely on their terms. I simply won’t do it.

We make professional recommendations and if customers don’t want to accept that professional advice, they are free to go elsewhere. To act in any other way would show a lack of integrity and could be considered professionally negligent. That is #openhonesttransparent

Looking for a salesman?

You won’t find any of them here, but you will find professional advice you can trust, that will protect you and your business and you will develop a relationship with named individuals who will deliver real value for you over many years.

Be awesome, have a great day

Severn Bay Logo

Business Insurance Specialists

 

A legal team to defend you when you need it

What do I get for my money?

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I think liability insurance is expensive!

So what am I paying for and what do I get for my money?

When you take out liability insurance, the backstop is that your insurers will, after defending you, pay out damages up to the indemnity limit, which is typically two, five or ten million pounds.

That’s never going to happen to me?

Famous last words!

When everything is going well in business, clients and staff are happy, nothing happens, but the minute someone feels aggrieved or disagrees with you, that is the exact moment they will launch a legal action, #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time.

With no win, no fee, ambulance chasing lawyers ready to step up in with absolutely no cost to the claimant, it’s easy to start an action these days.

Even if the claim is completely without merit, and it’s all lies, that’s not what they will have told their lawyer to get the letters issued. Your only redress is to start spending lots of money on lawyers to rebut the claims and that is far more expensive than the insurance premium you could have paid – typically £150 an hour before you even utter a word and a barrister in court can cost anything from £1,500- £10,000 per day.

What do you get for your money?

The answer is a very good set of lawyers who will defend you at ZERO cost to yourself and pay out eventually, if necessary.

That’s what you get for your money.

Have a nice day.

Legal Team

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Business and life coaches: why do you need professional indemnity insurance tailored just for you?

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