Please read this document carefully. It sets out the terms and conditions on which we agree to act for you, contains details of our responsibilities together with your responsibilities both to us, to insurers and to other thirdparty providers. Please contact us immediately if there is anything in this document that you do not understand/or with which you disagree. In the interests of security, staff training and to generally improve our service please be aware that telephone calls may be monitored and/or recorded.

1. Our Service

1.1. Severn Bay Corporate Solutions is an independent insurance intermediary; authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our Financial Services Register number is 529554 These details can be checked on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0300 500 8082.

1.2. We are permitted to arrange, advise on, deal as an agent of insurers, assist in claims handling, help with ongoing changes, introduce to an insurer/finance provider(s) and arrange lending facilities, collect debt and administer debts in respect of general insurance policies on behalf of our clients.

1.3. We have access to leading insurers and often we select your insurance product from a wide range of insurers however there are times when we use a select panel of insurers/finance providers. Please ask us if you would like a list of these insurers. At our discretion, we offer clients the options to pay by instalments through Premium Credit Limited and/or Close Brothers Group plc. We will always advise you of our selection range prior to you committing to purchase an insurance policy or take out a finance agreement. In certain circumstances we may use the services of another intermediary to place your insurance and in these circumstances, we will always advise you of the name of that intermediary.

1.4. Upon assessment of your requirements we will make a recommendation for a particular insurance product. Our advice will be confirmed in a Demands and Needs statement which will clearly state the reasons for our recommendation. In some circumstances we may not provide advice, for example if we renew your insurance cover with your existing insurer without rebroking your insurance and where no recommendation has been provided; and/or if we simply provide you with information on a product. If we do not provide you with advice, we will always make this clear to you in our documentation.

2. Our Remuneration and other Income

2.1. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to make an administration charge. e.g. New Business, Renewal, Mid-Term Adjustment, replacement documents. These are non-refundable. These fees may be subject to change and where this is the case you will always be advised of the actual fee in writing.

2.2. We are usually remunerated for our insurance broking services by way of a fee, negotiated and agreed with you. We do not normally take commission from insurers. This applies to New Business and Renewals. If commission is included and cannot be removed, for instance with some electronically traded products, a discount is applied equal to the commission, before our fee is added. Weoccasionally receive additional remuneration from insurers, finance providers and other associated business partners for business we place with them. Please ask us if you would like further information.

3. Commercial Customers Duty of Disclosure

3.1. Your policy document will state your customer classification.

3.2. You must, at all times act with utmost good faith towards your insurer. This means that before your policy is placed, at renewal, when varying or extending the policy (and also during the policy period if your policy contains a particular clause stating that any change in circumstances must be advised to your insurer), you must disclose to us all information, facts and circumstances which are, or ought to be, known to you and which are material to the risk. When providing information or completing a proposal form or otherwise confirming any information to us, you should take care to ensure that the details provided are complete and accurate. You should note that your duty of disclosure is not confined to answering specific questions asked by us or your insurers and that all material circumstances should be disclosed to us whether or not we or your insurer has asked for the information. Circumstances which may be considered material are:

• special or unusual facts relating to the risk;

• any particular concerns which led you to seek insurance cover;

• anything which would generally be understood as being something that should be disclosed for the type of risk in question.

3.3. If you are unsure whether a fact or circumstance should be disclosed, or whether the duty of disclosure information continues throughout the period of your policy you should disclose the information anyway as failure to do so may lead your insurer to reduce its claim payment, apply additional terms or even avoid your policy.

3.4. You should keep a record (including copies of letters) of all information provided for future reference

4. Renewal of Contract

4.1. We will write to you in good time before your renewal date, offering your terms or in situations where we are not inviting renewal, we will tell you. Renewal of the contract is based on the information you supplied when we arranged your current contract along with any amendments you have made during the period of cover. It is important that you tell us about any changes to your requirements.

4.2. Where we offer you renewal terms and your insurance is paid by continuous monthly direct debit instalments, you can continue to pay in this manner. However, we will NOT automatically renew policies without your consent.

5. Payment of the Premium

5.1. You must provide the premium due in cleared funds in accordance with the amounts and dates specified in our payment options schedule. Failure to meet the payment date may lead to insurers cancelling your policy.

5.2. Please refer to our payment options schedule for full details on how to make a payment.

5.3. Please note that cover will cease if you fail to keep up payments under a credit agreement.

6. Cancellation Rights

6.1. Your policy document will provide you with specific information on your full rights to cancel your insurance. A personal policy which lasts for more than one calendar month offers you the facility to cancel cover (providing there have been no claims), within 14 days from the policy start date or the date when you receive the full policy documentation from us or your insurers; whichever occurs later. You will be entitled to a refund of premium less our administration charge and a charge by your insurer for the time your insurance cover was in place.

7. Refund Procedures

7.1. Where you cancel your personal insurance outside the 14-day cancellation period, we reserve the right to charge for our time in providing you with advice and for the administration costs involved. This results in us retaining our original commission and fees. There is no cancellation period for commercial insurance.

7.2. For some insurance contracts, insurers will not provide refunds for mid-term cancellation of cover. We will tell you if this affects you.

7.3. We do not provide refund payments of less than £50.00

8. Notification of Claims or Incidents

8.1. Many insurers provide a 24-hour helpline in respect of claims. Please refer to your policy documents for contact details. However, we will assist you with advice when you make a claim under your policy, so please contact us in the first instance.

8.2. Please ensure that you report all incidents that could give rise to a claim as soon as you become aware of them either by contacting your insurer or ourselves.

8.3. If you receive correspondence from a third party about your claim, please pass it to us or your insurer immediately and unanswered.

8.4. If you require any assistance with a claim or incident, please contact us

9. Client and Insurer Money

9.1. The firm named in the heading is not authorised to handle client monies, all client money is handled by BBPS Ltd who holds all client money in a trust account, the purpose of which is to protect you in the event of financial failure since, in such circumstances, general creditors would not be able to make claims on client money.

9.2. BBPS Ltd hold all our client money collected for onward transmission to insurers and refund payments to clients in a named client bank account with an approved bank under a non-statutory trust arrangement in accordance with Financial Conduct Authority rules. This means that BBPS Ltd are entitled to and may use client money held on behalf of one of our clients to pay another of our client’s premium before the premium is received from that other client, and to pay claims and premium refunds to another of our clients before they receive payment from the insurer. However, BBPS Ltd are not entitled to use client money to pay commissions to us before we receive the relevant premium for that client.

9.3. In some circumstances we may need to use another intermediary to arrange your insurance and as a result BBPS Ltd will pass money through other authorised intermediaries before finally paying it to the insurer.

9.4. Any monies held when acting as agent of the insurer is deemed as having been received by the insurer.

9.5. It is our policy to retain any interest that may be earned on monies held by BBPS Ltd on our behalf in our client account

10. Confidentiality and Security

10.1.To help make sure you receive a competitive quotation, offer of appropriate payment options, protection against fraud and to verify your identity, insurers may use publicly available data which they obtain from a variety of sources, including a credit reference agency and other external organisations. Their search will appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds.

10.2.All information on our records relating to you will be treated as private and confidential and will only be disclosed to others such as our business partners, insurers, credit providers and other third parties who are directly involved in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurance. By accessing our sites and using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information to a third party.

10.3.Where you have given us consent, we may use the data we hold about you to provide you with a renewal quotation and information about products and services we consider may be appropriate.

10.4.Our Retention of your Personal Information – By using our services you consent to us and our partners retaining any personal information you have provided. We will retain any personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the business purpose for which it was collected. We will also retain and use your personal information for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Under the General Data Protection Regulations 2018, you have the right to ask us for a copy of any personal information about yourself that we hold on our records. Please contact us if you require any more information. For further information on your rights under the General Data Protection Regulations please refer to the Information Commissioners Office – www.ico.org.uk

11. Termination of Agreement

11.1.Our agreement may be terminated by either one of us giving 14 days’ notice in writing to the other. You will be liable to pay for any outstanding transactions or adjustments prior to termination without any penalty fee as long as these are settled immediately on termination.

11.2.We will be entitled to retain any fees or commission payable in relation to business transacted prior to the date of termination.

12. Law and Jurisdiction

12.1.These Terms of Business which form our agreement with you, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts unless we agree with you otherwise

13. Bribery and Corruption

13.1. Our company culture and ethics mean that we do not bribe or use any other means to improperly influence the decisions of clients, potential clients or government officials. Our business is structured with appropriate systems and controls so as to comply with the requirements of the Bribery Act 2010.

14. Sanctions

14.1. Both parties shall pay due regard to, and co-operate in respect of the observance of, any applicable international economic, financial or trade sanctions legislation.

15. Complaints

15.1.Our aim is to provide all of our clients with an excellent level of service; however, we recognise that there may be occasion when you do not feel satisfied with the service you have received from us. Should you need to make a complaint please contact our Complaints Manager using any of the following methods:

email: Karen@severnbay.com

post: Karen Adams, Severn Bay Corporate Solutions Ltd, 11 Drake Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4AN

Tel: 029 2047 0375

15.2.We aim to resolve complaints within 3 business days following receipt, however, if we can’t, we will write to you within five working days to acknowledge your complaint and provide details of our complaint handling procedures and who is dealing with your complaint.

15.3.We aim to provide a final response to your complaint within eight weeks from the date of receipt of your complaint and if we cannot we will outline the reasons for the delay and provide you with an indication of when you can expect to receive a response.

15.4. If you are dissatisfied with our final response, or we have been unable to provide our final response to your complaint you may be eligible to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) free of charge. Details of the eligibility criteria can be found in our complaint’s procedure or on the FOS website https://financial-ombudsman.org.uk. If you do decide to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman, you must do so within six months of the date of our final response.

15.5.The FOS offer an independent service for resolving disputes and you can contact the FOS by:

• Calling their consumer helpline on 0800 0234 567 or 0300 1239 123;

• Writing to them at Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR;

• Emailing complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

15.6.We will include a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s leaflet in all resolution letters.

16. Solvency and Compensation

16.1.We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with.

16.2.We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) for insurance mediation only; this does not extend to consumer credit lending. The FSCS is the UK’s compensation fund of last resort for clients of authorised financial services firms. You may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and circumstances of the claim.

16.3. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim with no upper limit, although compulsory insurance is protected in full. Further details about the FSCS can be found on their website www.fscs.org.uk.

17. Conflicts of Interest

17.1. Our company ethics and culture towards customer service means that we never deliberately put ourselves in a position where our interests or our duty to another party prevents us from discharging our duty to you.

17.2. Where we become aware of any actual or potential conflict of interest, we will tell you about the situation, the options available to you and we will ask for your consent to proceed.

14.3  We may: 14.3.1. provide databases to insurers which may include

Confidential Information relating to your insurance; and
include, on an anonymous basis, information relating to your insurance programme in benchmarking, modelling and other analytics offerings.

14.4   This confidentiality commitment to you does not apply to information lawfully in our possession or in the public domain.

15. protection and security

15.1  The parties both warrant that they will observe the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other applicable data protection laws, in relation to these Terms of Business.

15.2 We may also disclose your personal data:
15.2.1.  to any law enforcement agency, court, regulator, government authority or other third party

15.2.2.  where we believe this is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation; and
to a third party that purchases, or to which we transfer, part or all of our assets and/or business.

15.3  Depending on the circumstances, the disclosure of personal data (including sensitive personal data) detailed in this clause may involve a transfer of data outside of the European Economic Area.

15.4.  Insurers and premium finance providers may carry out enquiries for credit referencing and fraud prevention purposes and in doing so may pass information, including personal data, to third parties and/or relevant agencies. You can ask insurers for more information about this. A record of the insurer’s or premium finance provider’s enquiry may be viewed by other companies if you apply for their services. These enquiries may include electoral roll and credit information. Insurers may also pass your personal data to re-insurers and/or loss adjusters.

15.5.  By continuing to receive services from us you consent to the personal data you provide to us being used in accordance with this clause and confirm that you have obtained the consent of any data subjects whose personal data you provide to us. Any person disclosing personal data to us must do so in compliance with all applicable data protection laws.

15.6.  We may from time-to-time, provide you with marketing information on other products we supply and/or pass your contact details to other suppliers of products or services of whom we approve. If you do not wish your details to be used for the purposes in this clause, please notify your usual contact or you can write to the Data Protection Officer at Fiona Adams, Severn Bay Corporate Solutions Ltd, 11 Drake Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4AN.