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North Yorkshire cycle hub up for top tourism award

22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.
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Independent retail bodies welcome new report aimed at tackling retail crime.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime... Read more…

Indie retailers outperformed supermarkets in sales of organic food, wellness and beauty products in 2023.

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with... Read more…

Cheltenham beer shop and bar wins top UK award.

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 
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Welsh Government Announce £20m Future Proofing Fund for Retail Businesses in Wales

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to... Read more…

High Street Faces 'Unprecedented Challenges' says Trade Association

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.
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Greeting Card Association expresses concern on new evidence Royal Mail prioritising parcel deliveries over letters.

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of... Read more…

Kate Bush named as Record Store Day ambassador.

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.
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Shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year 2024 revealed.

4 Mar 2024

The British Book Awards has announced its shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year. 
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Local Bike Shop Day 2024 confirmed for Saturday May 4th.

4 Mar 2024

The ACT is happy to confirm the date for Local Bike Shop Day 2024 as Saturday 4 May, the weekend of the early May Bank Holiday.
Read more…

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IRC supports Government's challenge to business insurers

Posted on in Political News

The myth: It has become widely believed within the retail sector that if the Government tells a business to close that the business is then eligible to make an insurance claim.

The truth: Business Interruption Insurance (BII) can only be claimed if included in policy, and if detailed terms of the policy are fulfilled.

The Treasury Select Committee led by Mel Stride MP, has challenged the Association of British Insurers (ABI) regarding the support offered to business via their members, with specific regard to business interruption insurance.

The Committee sought to clarify where business insurance support had ceased to be offered or policy terms had changed and exclusions added, since the pandemic began.

Government appeared to expect that business insurance policies would provide funding support for independent retailers through the provision of cover for coronavirus related costs after it added COVID-19 to its list of notifiable diseases.

Government guidance stated that "those businesses which have an insurance policy that covers government ordered closure and pandemics or government ordered closure and unspecified notifiable disease should be able to make a claim (subject to the terms and conditions of their policy)."

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has responded with a statement clarifying their position, most notably:

"Only a very small number of businesses choose to buy any form of cover that includes business interruption due to a notifiable or infectious disease. Usually these extensions list very specific diseases that are covered, not any notifiable disease that may emerge such as COVID-19. An even smaller number will have cover where the notifiable or infectious disease is unspecified enabling them to potentially claim for the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, such policies often respond only when the disease is present at the premises as they cover the interruption to trade caused where business premises have been infected by an illness such as Legionnaires' disease or norovirus and where the building needs to be closed and cleaned to deal with the specific incident."

The ABI stated that insurers would go bust if they had to pay out claims to British businesses with total revenues of £4.4 trillion all at the same time and has offered to work with Government to build a specialised scheme that would pay out to firms forced to shut down in a future pandemic.

Government and business may have misjudged the potential access to cash support via business interruption insurance. It is a retrospective cover that may provide some interim payment towards costs, but only once there is clarity over the degree of the loss, but surety of its support would be enough to see many businesses through the crisis.

Current feedback suggests that there are a limited number of insurance policies that are providing appropriate cover, but it is evident from feedback throughout the independent retail sector, that there is a high degree of ambiguity in the wording and interpretation of many policies.

Tell us your experience

Members of the Independent Retailers Confederation (IRC), initiated by The ACT, are calling upon Government and insurance brokers to challenge policies where there is ambiguity.

The IRC is a well-established organisation representing over 100,000 independent retailers throughout the UK, it brings together like-minded trade associations with interests in the small and independent retail sector.

The IRC are collecting data from independent retail businesses which:

1. Have a Business Interruption clause in their insurance policy and
2. Have submitted a formal claim following the outbreak of COVOID-19 which
3. Has not been accepted by/is in dispute with the insurer

In order to highlight these issues and support the Government's request for more information, the IRC has set up an online survey, open to all independent retailers, that will help to evaluate policy ambiguity, offending insurers and the level of claims and funds under challenge.

TAKE THE SURVEY NOW

Let us know your experiences with BII by completing the online survey at indieretail.uk/business-interruption-insurance.

The IRC would also love to know if your claim has been successful, or your insurance broker/insurer have provided great service. Please let us know by emailing info@indieretail.uk.

 

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