Insurance

Public Liability and Legal Protection insurance can cover organisations against the financial consequences of actual or alleged abuse claims. For this reason, an insurer will require your organisation to have sufficient safeguarding arrangements in place to mitigate against these risks.

Most policies will require policyholders to exercise a duty of reasonable care and be seen to have taken reasonable precautions e.g. preventing injury to others, complying with the relevant laws and regulations, and having a safeguarding policy and safer recruitment practices in place.

If there is a concern or allegation of abuse involving the organisation or one of your workers, you should report it to your insurance company immediately. If you don’t this may affect the protection given by your insurance policy. 

If an insurance company considers your organisation to have been ‘reckless’ by failing to implement and maintain proper safeguarding procedures, then you may be deemed to be in breach of your policy conditions, and the insurer could refuse to pay out. Even if a payment is made on behalf of the policy holder to a third party, the insurance company could try to recover these costs from your organisation e.g. damages awarded to a victim.

Establishing negligence is critical, which is why implementing best practice is so important. If abuse does happen, but your organisation has done everything it reasonably could to prevent it, then you may not be held legally liable.

Legal Protection Insurance, subject to its terms and conditions, is available to meet any legal expenses where there is no actual injury or legal liability e.g. where an unfounded allegation is made, but where an organisation, or one of its workers incurs significant legal costs.

Organisations should check their cover and talk to their insurance provider or broker about possible exclusions to public liability. They have a responsibility to point out any major exclusions to any policy.

Things to consider

Insurance cover usually only provides protection for incidents, or alleged incidents, that happen after the cover has started, even if the incident comes to light or an allegation is made after the policy has started.

Some insurance companies may place limitations on public liability insurance to exclude claims involving abuse or require a risk assessment to be completed before they add an appropriate additional premium to the policy.

There are different types of insurance cover:

• Claims occurring: covers claims for incidents which occurred whilst the policy was in place, even if the claim occurs a long time after the event. 
• Claims made: typically only covers claims if they are made whilst the policy is in place.

‘Claims occurring’ can offer more comprehensive protection as abuse claims often come to light some time after the event.

If an organisation runs activities outside of its usual premises, these may not be covered by your insurance policy, so you should speak with your provider e.g. a place of worship holding meetings in a person’s home. Other events such as trips, outings, camps, residentials or adventurous activities may require additional or specific insurance to reflect the level of risk involved.