Insurance Guidance
At The Social Change Nest, we know every group is wonderfully unique. Navigating insurance can be complex, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Our guidance below aims to answer your questions and help you prepare for what insurance companies or brokers might ask.
What insurance does SCN have?
- The Social Change Nest CIC has Employers’ Liability Insurance which is a legal requirement under the Employers’ Liability Act 1969. This is renewed every 12 months, and covers all subsidiaries in our group.
- This coverage ensures that if accidents happen, our business can handle the costs and legalities swiftly. It’s about more than compliance; it’s about caring for our people and ensuring a resilient, supported workforce.
- Unfortunately we can’t cover other types of insurance for our groups as they are their own wonderfully separate entities, each with different and specific requirements.
Definitions of some different types of insurance
There are several different types of insurance that you may wish to consider. Below is a list of some that you may need but is not an exhaustive/definite list. We recommend you speak to an insurance broker/company to determine what types of insurance you will need:
- Public Liability – Public liability insurance is essential for organisations that engage with the community and the public, as it offers protection against claims of injury or damage caused by their activities. Some insurers will cover volunteers also.
- Directors and officers liability – This type of insurance protects directors and officers from claims that might arise due to their actions and decisions in their professional capacities. It covers legal fees and settlements in cases such as breaches of fiduciary duties, negligence, or wrongful acts
- Public indemnity (also known as Professional Liability Insurance) – This type of insurance protects the organisation and its professionals against claims of negligence or misadvice that could arise in the course of their work. It covers the cost of defending such claims and any damages that might be awarded to the claimant.
- Asset insurance (sometimes known as Offices and Surgeries insurance) – designed to protect an organisation’s physical and sometimes intangible assets from loss, damage, or theft. This includes buildings, equipment, furniture, and potentially intellectual property.
- Cyber insurance – Covers the risks such as data breaches, cyber attacks and other types of IT related risks. It can help cover the costs associated with recovering from a cyber attack, including system repairs, data recovery, legal fees, and notifying affected parties. It also helps mitigate the reputational damage that can result from such breaches.
Getting insurance for volunteers
There are several types of insurance that can cover volunteers. You will need to make sure that that the policies you choose, do cover volunteers as not all policies do and you will also need to ensure that the policy covers the activities that they do.
Types of insurance that can cover volunteers:
- Employer’s liability insurance (unfortunately SCN’s policy does not cover people volunteering for our groups)
- Public liability insurance
- Motor insurance – you may need this type of insurance if your organisation has volunteer drivers. If volunteers drive your vehicles, check they are covered by your insurance. If volunteers drive their own vehicles, they need to check their insurance covers this. If it doesn’t, you can arrange for occasional business use cover form your insurer, for them.
What questions will brokers/providers need answered during initial conversations?
- Turnover of the organisation
- Wageroll – If you are not using SCN what is the total annual salary payment for your organisation
- How many employees and type of activities i.e. clerical or manual?
- Any insurance claims in the last 5 years?
- Activities that the organisation undertakes
- Registered address.
- If unincorporated this is not an issue but providers will likely have to go by the founder’s home, if there is no registered address
- Some insurers may want to understand the relationship between SCN and our groups
- You can let them know that in terms of a group’s liabilities you should still be able to get this cover as you will require this for the activities you’re undertaking. SCN are just the fiscal host which means providing the financial and administrative support.
- Explain that SCN are not involved in the group’s day to day activities