UK: Government launches insurance scheme to support the events industry
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2021
The live events sector in the UK is set to get a boost with a government-backed insurance scheme worth over GBP750m ($1.03bn), launched in partnership with Lloyd’s to help plan events through the next year.
The UK government has partnered with Lloyd’s to deliver the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme as part of its ‘Plan for Jobs’ initiative. The scheme will see the government act as a reinsurer, stepping in with a guarantee to make sure insurers can offer the products that events companies need.
The move comes as the economy reopens with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions as a sufficiently high proportion of the population vaccinated, said a UK government official website. The live events sector is worth more than GBP70bn annually to the economy and supports more than 700,000 jobs, including small businesses and the self-employed.
The scheme will support live events across the UK that are open to the general public, such as music festivals and business events. It will cover costs incurred in the event of cancellation due to the event being legally unable to proceed due to government COVID-19 restrictions. Underwriters participating in the scheme include Arch, Beazley, Dale, Hiscox and Munich Re.
There is no cap on costs claimed per event. If events have to be cancelled after organisers have covered the agreed excess, the government and insurers have an agreed risk share per claim. This starts with the government paying 95% and insurers 5%, progressing to 97% and 3% respectively and finally the government covering 100% of costs. The split depends on losses incurred by the insurer from the scheme to date. The scheme will be available from September 2021 and run for a year. M