We are aware from the many questions that we have received over the years that Insurance is a subject many of our Member Clubs find difficult to deal with. Simple and straightforward Insurance is what we all need as Clubs or Societies that are classed as “Not for Profit Organisations” We are unable by law to advise in any way, but will attempt to give Insurance guidance if possible. To that end we have found some booklets produced by Zurich Insurance that are available for download. Click on the document title to download the guide from the Zurich Insurance website.
"10 Questions to make buying insurance Simple - A guide for non-profit organisations"
"Making risk management simple - A guide for non-profit organisations"
"Policy Document for Charities and Social Organ8sations"
The main types of Insurance available are:
Club All Risks
This policy will provide cover for equipment owned by, or loaned to your club as well as the prints and transparencies in your club’s possession. There may be 3 sections of cover under the policy:-
Club Property (equipment owned by the club)
Third Party Property (equipment loaned to the club)
Prints
Cover includes accidental damage, but is not likely to cover any damage due to everyday wear and tear, or replacement bulbs but will provide cover for equipment whilst at your club meeting place, at an exhibition/presentation, at a club member’s home for storage or club purposes (no cover provided if the member is using the equipment for their own purposes) or in transit to or from these places.
Fire and Theft
This policy is designed to provide Buildings cover for clubs that own their own meeting place. The cover is equivalent to that provided under the buildings section of a household policy and includes cover for Fire, Lightning, Flood, Breakage of Glass and Subsidence, Heave andLandslip.
If you want to discuss insurance, Naomi Saul,our Treasurer, will be pleased to help. Her telephone number is 01462 711772 and incidentally, neither she nor the Federation, receive any commission or bonus payment as incentives from any insurance Provider.
Members All Risks
This policy will provide cover for equipment owned by club members and will cover equipment whilst anywhere in the United Kingdom and worldwide with a maximum period of 30 days cover in any one year. As with the Club All Risks policy, accidental damage is included and everyday wear and tear is excluded. This policy would be in the club’s name but would note the separate members names and limits of indemnity as proof of the cover provided by the policy.
Public Liability
This policy will provide cover for the club for damage to third party property (excluding property owned by the Club, or loaned to them) or injury to a third party, where it can be shown that the club/club member has acted negligently e.g. faulty equipment has been used and caused a fire. The policy does not cover deliberate acts, which would be a criminal offence and therefore be uninsurable.
The policy may cover club excursions within the United Kingdom, but may also be extend for Worldwide trips. Any club should notify their Insurance provider if they are planning a trip abroad in good time, to enable them to make the appropriate arrangements.
The information required will be:
Date leaving the UK
Date returning to the UK
Countries being visited
Reason for visiting the area
Number of Members attending
As a Federation, we require ALL Clubs/Societies to hold Public Liability Insurance cover for a minimum of £5,000,000 as a condition of Membership.
PUBLIC LIABILITY RISK ASSESSMENT
ALL CLUBS are advised to carry out a Risk Assessment to identify potential hazards and solutions for the venue in which they meet.
A REGISTER of attendees should also be kept for every meeting.
For those Clubs that do not have a regular meeting place and therefore meet in Members’ homes - Risk Assessments should be carried out for ANY venue in which they meet.
In addition the register of attendees needs to show the date and meeting venue address, as this will be required if a claim occurs, to prove that a claim is potentially valid (i.e. the Club was at the location on a given date).
CLUBS should also note that by meeting in a Member’s home, there is potential for the Member to be involved in any claim as the property owner/occupier. As such, the Club should ensure that the Member has sufficient household cover in place, with particular interest paid to Public Liability (which is more often noted as Property Owners Liability).
Trustee Insurance: Members of any club committee may be liable to pay for a claim made for many things covered under this policy. Legally, every committee member is a Trustee of the club and if any committee member is responsible for a wrongful act - either doing something he or she should not do, or failing to carry out an action that he or she should have carried out, then each and every committee member is liable to pay out on any claim resulting.
This type of Policy may be deemed necessary because, in recent years, there have been reports of claims being made in quite ordinary clubs. We do not know of any photographic club where this has happened but we do know there have been threats or implied threats causing distress and worry even in our own Federation. Whilst claims are not very common, when they do occur they can involve many thousands of pounds.
Claims have been reported under this type of policy for Racial Discrimination, Misuse of Trust (Club) funds, Slander, Defamation, Loss of Documents, Loss of Property, Breach of Authority and Dishonesty of a Trustee. Of course, we all think it unlikely that this could happen in our clubs but the risk is potentially catastrophic for club trustees.The Policy will exclude losses that are uninsurable under the law such as taxes, penalties.
Whilst Public Liability Insurance is essential for all Clubs and a condition of Membership for the EAF, Trustee Indemnity Insurance is not.
Clubs need to consider carefully whether they wish to take out their own policy – the cost of which may be in the region of £100 depending on which options are taken – but may automatically include Public Liability Insurance too.
Smaller Clubs may well decide that direct TII cover is not worth the premium they have to pay BUT will need to be aware of the very important need to be very careful:-
That only FACTS are allowed on any Website or social Media pages the Club may have.
EXAMPLE: A Club member in all innocence publishes an item on a Club website or Newsletter that is later subject of a slander claim. Then the responsibility for settling any damages would fall not only on the writer, but equally on each and every committee member. Libel cover is only available for Employees and as Not for Profit Organisations we have no “employees”
That no contract is entered into that there is not a clear and certain way forward for.
EXAMPLE: The Committee enter into a contract to purchase equipment (maybe a laptop or a new Digital Projector) on the understanding that funds will be available from a Grant. Subsequently, the grant monies are not approved or received, but the Club are committed to purchase the equipment for which there are insufficient funds. The supplier sues the Trustees (Committee Members) for non payment.
As far as “Fidelity” (more commonly known as “money”) cover is concerned – this cover can be added to Trustee Indemnity Insurance as an optional extra, or may also be included automatically. Whether it is necessary to include “money” cover is also optional.
Guidance notes:
Clubs MUST always take care who is appointed Treasurer and be sure to know the person’s background.
Cheques issued should require 2 signatories – however difficult that proves to be.
Beware of ONLINE BANKING that is now much used and be aware that this is dealt with by ONE PERSON.
SELECTING YOUR INSURANCE PROVIDER
All Clubs/Societies are of course at liberty to select their own Insurance provider. As with all Insurance cover it is advisable and important that you do obtain quotes from more than one Insurer, so you can compare costs.
It is NOT compulsory for cover to be taken via the PAGB arranged Schemes ALTHOUGH to be eligible for cover under the PAGB Insurance schemes it is ESSENTIAL for you to have Federation Membership as well. More details of the new PAGB arranged scheme, with "Your Gadgets Covered" who are part of a larger organisation "Hive Insurance Services", are available on pages 5 and 6 of the PAGB eNews issue 316 published on 17th September 2022.
Another Insurance provider with many years experience of working with “Not for Profit organisations” is: Zurich, who offer an online package, specifically for "not-for-profit" groups, from £96 a year. The package is designed for not-for-profit clubs and societies with an income under £300,000 and includes Public Liability cover, Employers' Liability cover, Personal Accident cover, Trustee Indemnity cover, Contents cover and cover for Money on premises and in Transit.
For more information, or to get a quote, visit http://www.zurich.co.uk/charity
THE OVERALL COST OF YOUR INSURANCE COULD PERHAPS BE REDUCED IF ALL COVER IS TAKEN THROUGH ONE POLICY. THIS IS POSSIBLE THROUGH ZURICH BUT NOT IF ARRANGED THROUGH THE PAGB ARRANGED SCHEME.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES REGARDING INSURANCE - OR IF YOU BECOME AWARE OF ANY POSSIBLE CLAIMS - PLEASE CONTACT NAOMI SAUL (TREASURER) DIRECT WHO WILL BE HAPPY TO GUIDE AND HELP YOU BUT LEGALLY IS NOT ABLE TO GIVE ANY ADVICE.