Derby City Council Schools Insurance Guide 2021 2022 - Version 1.0
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Derby City Council
Schools Insurance Guide
2021 - 2022
Version 1.0Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 4
What is Insurance? ............................................................................................................ 4
Liability Insurances ............................................................................................................... 5
Public Liability.................................................................................................................... 5
Employer’s Liability ............................................................................................................ 5
Libel and Slander .............................................................................................................. 5
Hirers Liability .................................................................................................................... 5
Property Insurance................................................................................................................ 6
Material Damage – Education ........................................................................................... 6
Business Interruption - Additional Expenditure .................................................................. 6
Balance of Perils (optional) ................................................................................................ 6
Terrorism ........................................................................................................................... 7
Computer .......................................................................................................................... 7
Money ............................................................................................................................... 7
Motor .................................................................................................................................... 7
School Minibus .................................................................................................................. 7
Personal Accident and Travel ............................................................................................... 8
Personal Accident ............................................................................................................. 8
Business Travel ................................................................................................................. 8
Personal Accident – Governors (optional) ......................................................................... 8
Personal Accident – Volunteers (optional) ......................................................................... 8
School Journey (optional) .................................................................................................. 8
Insurance Claims .................................................................................................................. 9
Property Claims ................................................................................................................. 9
Liability Claims .................................................................................................................. 9
2Minibus Claims ................................................................................................................ 10
In all cases: ......................................................................................................................... 10
Information that may be relevant to the handling of a claim ............................................. 11
3Introduction
The aim of this guide is to:
explain what insurance is and what this means for you in practice
briefly explain the principal policies the Council has; and
explain the process for dealing with insurance claims
This guide intends to help Council-maintained schools understand the principal
relevant insurance policies. It should not be used as a complete listing of all
insurance covers held by the Council. If you would like to discuss the contents of this
guide, refer a claim, discuss or request changes to existing insurance cover or notify
us of a change of risk within the school and its activities please contact the Insurance
Team by telephone on 01332 640846 or by email at insurance@derby.gov.uk
Schools that convert to Academy status cease to be covered by the insurance
arranged by the Council, including optional insurance covers. If your school is
converting to Academy status, please contact your Trust to discuss any post-
conversion insurance queries.
What is Insurance?
Insurance is a precaution against possible unwanted outcomes and is an important
aspect of risk management. It allows us to transfer our financial risk to someone else
in exchange for a payment or premium. When we suffer a loss, the insurance should
reinstate us to the position we were in before the loss occurred. The
transference of risk to insurance is used to protect the Councils assets, reputation,
and taxpayers against the financial impact of a catastrophic loss.
Insurance covers noted as ‘optional’ in this guide require schools to opt-in annually if
they wish to benefit from the cover provided. Further details regarding the cover and
cost are contained on the proposal form which is usually circulated around
March/April. Schools must return their completed proposal forms by the deadline
stated on the proposal form to benefit from cover. Where the deadline is after 1st
April, schools will be covered retrospectively to this date should they opt-in.
Unfortunately, schools that do not opt-in to the optional insurances by the
deadline will be unable to do so later.
Insurance is only one aspect of managing risk which means we should not neglect
other areas of risk management just because the insurance exists. This means that
schools must be seen to be behaving reasonably and as if it were not insured.
Insurance cover can be costly which means careful consideration should be given to
any alternatives for protecting assets and reducing potential liabilities before
obtaining insurance cover.
Unless otherwise stated, all insurance policies within this guide run from 1st April -
31st March.
4Liability Insurances
These policies are to protect the Council’s legal liabilities towards others. The cover
applies when the Council has a legal liability to pay compensation, damages, costs
and expenses for injury, death, damage to property or financial loss. To reduce the
potential risk of a claim being brought against the Council all departments and
employees should evaluate and control the risks associated with their duties and
look for ways to minimise these.
Public Liability
Public liability insurance provides compensation to third parties in cases where the
School is found legally liable for their bodily injury, illness, disease, or death. The
policy also provides compensation when the School is found legally liable for
damage or loss to third party property. Proof of our public liability insurance can be
found on a ‘To Whom It May Concern’ letter from our insurance broker. This is not
for general display but must be produced to third parties who have a bona-fide
reason for seeing it. Examples include contractors undertaking works on the school
premises, or the owners of premises or businesses you are visiting.
Employer’s Liability
Employer’s liability insurance provides compensation in cases where the School is
found legally liable for the bodily injury, illness, disease, or death of an employee
which occurs or arises in the course of their employment. A copy of the employers
liability insurance certificate should be available for all employees (including
volunteers and those undertaking work experience) to view either by means of a
paper copy, or an electronic copy on an intranet site.
Libel and Slander
The libel and slander policy provides cover for cases where the School is found
legally liable to pay compensation to a third party for libellous and slanderous
comments by a School employee whilst conducting School business.
Hirers Liability
Hirer’s liability insurance protects the School and any authorised hirer of school
premises when they are found to be legally liable for bodily injury, illness, disease or
loss or damage to property arising out of the usual and authorised hiring activities of
the hirer and resulting from events occurring during the period of hire.
5Property Insurance
These insurances are designed to protect school buildings and contents from
damage or loss caused by certain specified perils such as fire and flood. It should be
noted that this insurance only provides limited cover in respect of the personal
belongings of staff and pupils. When renewing or tendering our property insurances,
the Council declared a ‘sum insured’ for each property. This sum insured is primarily
used by the insurer to determine the premium to be charged and does not constitute
a guarantee of a sum of money that would be payable under the policy should a loss
occur. In the event of a major loss, insurers will appoint a Loss Adjuster to manage
the claim on their behalf in conjunction with the school’s senior management, other
Council stakeholders and any contractors appointed to undertake remedial/rebuilding
works.
Material Damage – Education
The material damage insurance for educational properties provides cover for both
buildings and contents in the event of catastrophic loss. The policy provides cover
against damage or loss caused by the following perils: fire, lightning, explosion,
aircraft, earthquake, riot, and civil commotion. This policy aims to put the school back
in the situation it was in immediately prior to the loss occurring, so could involve
buildings or contents being repaired rather than replaced. Specifications of buildings
and contents replaced will need to be as close as possible to the original, although
insurers will allow for changes in legal safety standards and building regulations and
it may be possible for schools to contribute to upgrades. Each school should
maintain an inventory of contents and stocks of consumables (ideally backed up with
receipts and invoices) to provide proof to insurers of contents damaged/lost if
required.
Business Interruption - Additional Expenditure
The additional expenditure policy works in conjunction with the general and
education material damage policies above. The policy provides cover for additional
expenditure incurred by the Council in maintaining schooling following the damage or
loss of a general or educational establishment by one of the insured perils listed
under the material damage cover. An example where this part of the policy would
respond would be the costs associated with the provision of temporary
accommodation following the loss of a school building due to fire. Not all costs would
be recoverable under this policy, for example costs such as heating and lighting
would have been incurred anyway.
Balance of Perils (optional)
The balance of perils policy is an extension to the education material damage cover
which enables schools to insure against additional perils and benefit from lower
6excesses for the buildings and contents of the educational establishments for which
the schools are responsible. Additional perils include damage caused by malicious
persons, storm and flood, escape of water, full impact by any road vehicle, theft, and
accidental damage.
Terrorism
The terrorism insurance policy protects the Council against damage and or financial
loss to its property assets as a result of terrorism. The assets covered by the policy
include education premises.
Computer
The computer policy provides cover for the physical loss or damage to the Councils
computers, laptops and all other related computer equipment. Computer equipment
taken home by employees of Council-maintained schools is covered under this
policy, however there is no cover provided for computer equipment taken home by
pupils.
Money
The money policy enables the recovery of losses following accidental loss including
theft or robbery of money held at School premises or in transit in the control of
School employees or a nominated Security Company. Details of any safes at the
School should be provided to the Insurance Team and the School will be informed of
any restrictions on the amount of money that can be kept in the safe. Keys for safes
should be removed from the premises when unoccupied (i.e. overnight, during
school holidays).
Motor
School Minibus
The school minibus policy provides comprehensive cover for minibuses that are
owned, leased, and operated by Council maintained schools. This policy is optional
and therefore schools are required to opt into the policy. The policy is an extension
of the main motor fleet policy providing additional cover such as breakdown recovery
and a lower excess.
7Personal Accident and Travel
Personal Accident
The personal accident policy provides cover for Council employees, members,
teachers, volunteers, governors, foster and shared lives carers. The policy provides
a benefit payment to the Council when an insured event such as accidental death or
disablement involves an individual from one of the insured groups listed above.
Business Travel
The business travel policy provides travel insurance for employees whilst they are
undertaking journeys in connection with their official duties for the School. Cover
includes overseas medical expenses, travel expenses and emergency repatriation
incurred as a direct result of the employee becoming ill or sustaining bodily injury
while on their journey plus limited cover for personal effects.
Personal Accident – Governors (optional)
The personal accident policy provides cover for Governors of Council-maintained
schools who are not employees of the school. The policy provides a benefit payment
to the school when an insured event such as accidental death or disablement
involves a Governor while undertaking duties for the school.
Personal Accident – Volunteers (optional)
The personal accident policy provides cover for volunteers at Council-maintained
schools. The policy provides a benefit payment to the school when an insured event
such as accidental death or disablement involves a volunteer while undertaking
duties for the school.
School Journey (optional)
The school journey policy protects pupils, teaching and support staff, volunteers,
helpers and other children authorised to accompany the group (of a participating
school) on an organised trip outside of the designated school boundaries. The policy
provides similar benefits to both the personal accident and business travel covers
with limited cover for personal effects.
8Insurance Claims
This section of the handbook explains the procedures that must be followed when
dealing with claims and what supporting information will be required. All claims must
be made through the Insurance Team so the correct procedures and guidelines can
be followed.
Property Claims
The Insurance Team must be notified of claims concerning School property damage
within two working days of it being brought to your attention. In the event the
property claim exceeds £5,000 please contact the Insurance Team immediately so
the appropriate measures can be made.
If the above time frame is not adhered to then it may invalidate the Councils cover.
Please ensure the following documentation is provided:
Property Claim Form
Crime Reference number if applicable
Two repair or replacement estimates
Copy of original purchase receipt in relation to electronic equipment or
furniture claims
Photographs of the damage
Any other relevant supporting documentation
It is vital that you obtain a copy of the final invoice for the repair or
replacement. Failure to supply this to our insurer will result in a loss of cover.
Our insurer can at times appoint suppliers or repairers. If you would like this service
to be used, then please confirm your acceptance to the Insurance Team as this
avoids any further delays and expenditure.
Liability Claims
Under the protocols for personal injury claims the Insurance Team has a very limited
time to investigate the claim confirming the Council’s liability position. Therefore, it is
vital that all correspondence received by a school about a claim is passed to the
Insurance Team within 24 hours so the appropriate acknowledgment can be given.
If your school receives a claim involving an injury either personally or through a
solicitor you must immediately:
take a photocopy of the letter or claim notification form and retain this for your
records.
send the original letter or claim notification form (including the relevant
insurance accident report form and any documents you feel will assist in
establishing liability) to the Insurance Team.
Under no circumstances contact the claimant to discuss their claim.
9 The Insurance Team will arrange for an acknowledgement letter to be sent to
the claimant or their legal representatives.
The Insurance Team or our insurers will deal with all future correspondence.
Any further correspondence received by the school must be passed to the
Insurance Team immediately without acknowledgement.
If the Insurance Team request additional information from you this must be
dealt with immediately. If you experience any problems obtaining the
requested information, then you must advise the Insurance Team
immediately.
Due to the limited time the Council has to investigate claims we ask that you
forward the requested documentation to the Insurance Team within 10
working days to allow for review and to seek clarification if necessary.
It is absolutely vital that any High Court writ, County Court summons or
notification of Police action is hand delivered to the Insurance Team on
the day of receipt and not posted.
In the event of a claim being made against the school the Insurance Team will
contact you requesting information in relation to the claim. Please ensure that you
review the request carefully and ensure that you respond to every request. It is
imperative that you answer all the questions presented as well as add any additional
information you believe may also be relevant to the claim. Failure to respond to
every question will result in the Insurance Team reverting back to you with further
questions. Failure to provide all the requested information may leave the Council
having no alternative but to accept liability as we would be unable to provide
documentation to support our defence.
Minibus Claims
All claims should be reported through Fleet Management. They will arrange for any
repairs to the vehicle and will pass details regarding the claim to the Insurance
Team. The Insurance Team must be informed immediately if the Police are involved
or a summons is issued.
In all cases:
The driver of any Council supplied vehicle must comply with the Road Traffic
Act.
In the event of an accident you must stop.
Make sure all parties involved are safe from further danger.
Summon the emergency services if necessary.
Exchange names, addresses, vehicle and insurance details.
Take note of how many parties were involved and how many passengers
were in the vehicle.
Under no circumstances should liability be admitted.
Check and agree vehicle damage with the parties involved.
10 If the damage renders the vehicle unsafe, do not drive it. For general vehicles
contact Fleet Management. For leased cars contact whichever breakdown
service was supplied with the car and have it towed away.
A claim form will be required which must be completed in full. All questions
on the form must be answered.
Information that may be relevant to the handling of a claim
Please find further details in the table below regarding the documentation and
information that may be required for public and employer’s liability and motor claims.
Please note this list is not exhaustive and further information may be required by the
insurance team or our insurers upon request.
Public Liability Employers Liability Motor Claims
Accident Report Forms Accident Report Forms Accident Report Forms
CCTV Footage CCTV Footage CCTV Footage
Cleaning Records Disciplinary Documentation Diagrams
Complaints Grievance Procedures Details of any Injuries
Images of Damage to
Correspondence Relating to Good Practice Report from
Council and or Third Party
the Claim Manager
Vehicles
Health and Safety Guides Meeting Logs Witness Statements
Inspection Records (12
Personal Protective
months prior and 12 months
Equipment (PPE) Logs
post-accident)
Good Practice Report from
Phone Logs
Manager
Maintenance Records Photographs
Minutes of Meetings Qualification Certificates
Photographs Risk Assessment
Policy Documents Training Documents
Qualification Certificates Witness Statements
Risk Assessments Written Procedures
Training Documents
Witness Statements
Work Orders
Written Procedure
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