The Coronavirus pandemic has caused economic uncertainty and strain on many businesses across various sectors, especially those who require customers to physically visit sites and healthy environments. The pandemic has prevented this from being possible and led to financial difficulty for many businesses. Whilst support such as the CBILS loan is available, some businesses rely on other sources of financial support.
Traditionally, business owners will take out insurance policies to protect against ‘business interruption’, and these policies will cover businesses for lost revenue in situations such as this.However, there are unfortunate situations when insurance providers deny claims, and businesses are left without the protection sold by the policy.
This was the case for our customer Jump Xtreme, who, along with other trampoline park and soft play centres have struggled to secure payouts under their business interruption cover, despite the policies clearly stating they will pay when the interruption to the business was “due to restrictions imposed by a public authority following an occurrence of a notifiable human disease”. Due to delayed and refused payments, businesses have struggled financially after being dependent on revenue from thousands of customers.
We have spoken to Jump Xtreme about their experience, their class action group and subsequent progress to help our businesses, introducers and suppliers to cover themselves against situations like this, with help and advice on what to do if this situation does occur. Jump Xtreme have started a campaign to make insurers honour a clear contractual obligation, setting up QIC Action Group.
“The QIC Action Group is seeking to challenge Business Interruption Insurance claim denials relating to policies issued by QIC Europe Ltd (Europe) and its agent, Eaton Gate MGU Ltd.”
Around 25 trampoline parks and soft play centres have joined the campaign, all experiencing similar insurance-related issues due to the pandemic, having been refused payouts under business interruption cover. Therefore, we are reminding all of our customers and businesses to check your insurance policies and contact QIC Action Group for further information and advice, as your claim may be wrongfully dismissed.
In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have announced a review of the situation with court intervention to protect businesses with legitimate claims.
