Insurance : Top Ten Tips
1. Go for broke Find a good broker who understands your charity and its work, has plenty of other charity clients, offers you useful feedback on risk management and does not always promise to cut premiums.
2. Heal thyself Look at your charity and the risks it runs. Turn risk assessment into policies to keep people and property safe, your charity's interests protected and trustees and managers out of court.
3. Talk is cheap Talk to your broker and insurance firm, especially if considering changes. This will help them appreciate what your charity does and how it manages risk, and will help you understand what insurers must know. Listen to their advice.
4. Keep on top Use your broker to explore the market, understand jargon, weigh up options and get quotes. Together you should regularly review cover, conditions and cost to ensure they fit your needs. Be fair: a little loyalty can make a big difference.
5. Penalty clause Ignorance is no excuse, so use your broker, insurance firm and other sources to keep up to date with new laws and regulations, such as public liability and court judgements and awards in, say, personal injury and property claims.
6. Lean over the fence Share information with other charities, especially when their activities and size are similar to yours. This will help you to assess whether you have the cover you need and whether you are paying too much or too little, and to secure intelligence on risk, losses and good deals.
7. The buck stops where? If possible, integrate the running and risk management of an activity and the purchase of insurance so that the connection of authority with responsibility for your charity's risks, insurance and costs is absolutely clear.
8. Pattern of errors Review losses and claims regularly - once a quarter, recommends one occupational road risk expert - to spot the common elements, such as items stolen, type of vehicle or location. This will help you work out how changes could cut your risks and costs. Centralising claims (or copying their details to a central department) can make this easier to achieve.
9. Saving together For economies of scale, improved risk assessment and better negotiating weight, encourage or require different departments or branches that buy insurance to share savings by buying together.
10. Back to basics Start insurance planning early, combine or divide different cover - travel, motor, public liability - to get the best deal, do the maths to set the right excess levels, ask about spreading payments to cut costs and, yes, do read the small print before signing the contract.
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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