Insurance Schemes for Local Churches Together Groups

A local church's insurance policy normally only covers activities of that church authorised by the trustees of its Church Council or PCC. If a church hosts an event of the local Churches Together group of which it is part, its policy only covers that event if it has minuted that it has invited the other churches and takes responsibility for the event. Churches Together groups which organise events on secular premises such as school or community halls or in the open air need their own insurance policy.
The following are suitable policies.

1. Finance Re-Direct Ltd

Finance ReDirect has negotiated a Public Liability insurance scheme designed for Churches Together groups which fall within the following criteria:

have an annual turnover of less than £10,000
have less than 50 member churches

and provides cover for the following activities:

regular meetings of the Churches Together Group;
Walk of Witness at Easter; and
up to 3 other awareness raising events where: the group are participating in an event organised by another organisation (e.g. a stall at a local fete, carnival, etc.); or there are less than 100 people attending an event organised by the group.

The scheme offers £5,000,000 Public Liability cover for £64.50 per annum.
To check your eligibility for the scheme please click this link and complete the short form.

Important Information - Please read.

Please note that this policy excludes Abuse cover. For the purposes of the policy, Abuse shall mean:

acts of hurting or injuring mentally or physically by maltreatment or ill-use;
acts of forcing sexual activity rape or molestation or
repeated or continuing contemptuous coarse or insulting words or behaviours.

If this cover is a specific requirement for your organisation then please contact us.

In addition, the Policy is not intended to cover hazardous activities or hazardous fund raising events. For example: bungee jumping or any activities involving bungee ropes or cords; rock climbing; mountaineering or abseiling; obstacle courses; "It's a Knockout" type competitions; swimming or diving events of any kind; fireworks or any form of pyrotechnics.

The above list is not exhaustive and should be read as examples only. The intention of the policy is to exclude "hazardous" activities. If you are in any doubt as to what constitutes 'hazardous activities' you should contact us at Finance ReDirect Limited to discuss the type of activities that are excluded.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Samantha Thapar, Finance ReDirect Limited, 2nd Floor, 6 St Paul's Square, Bedford MK40 1SQ Tel: 01234 358535 Fax: 0845 5085935 www.financeredirect.co.uk Finance ReDirect Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

2. Methodist Insurance plc

Methodist Insurance is able to offer the following:

An annual policy with a limit of indemnity of £5,000,000 which will provide cover in respect of the following activities:

Usual regular management meetings of Churches Together Groups
Up to three major events a year including Walk of Witness at Easter, Pentecost Parades and Carol Singing at Christmas
Up to three other awareness raising events either organised by another body e.g. Carnival committee or village fete or an event organised by Churches Together where there are less than 250 people attending e.g. a family picnic day

The premium for the above basic cover would be £65 per annum including IPT.

Where Groups had more extensive activities such as Summer Play Schemes, Care in The Community, Breakfast Clubs etc then additional premiums would be necessary.

If the intermediate body were to supply the names and addresses of all the individual groups we would then make contact with all the groups providing full details of the cover available. Methodist Insurance would issue the policies, collect the premiums and deal with all the claims.

Under the Financial Services Authority Regulations we would be unable to pay a commission to the intermediate bodies; however we would be happy to offer sponsorship for events or provide resource materials when organizing events etc.

Contact: Methodist Insurance plc., Brazennose House, Brazennose Street, Manchester, M2 5AS.
Tel: 0845 606 1331, Fax: 0161 833 1287
www.methodist-insurance.co.uk

3. Ecclesiastical Insurance Group plc

Ecclesiastical is a specialist provider of charity insurance in the UK offering bespoke policies tailored to the specific exposures and needs of your charity, including charity trustee and charity public liability insurance.

As part of our commitment to the UK charity insurance market and to ensure we are meeting the complex and wide-ranging needs of charities, we have made even more enhancements to our charity insurance cover as a result of our research.

Our policy would provide your Churches Together group with the liability cover as below; however, we would recommend that your group contacts us so that we are able to tailor a policy to the specific insurance needs of your organisation

Employer's Liability		Limit of Indemnity - £10,000,000 for up to 12 volunteers
Public Liability		Limit of Indemnity - £2,000,000 any one occurrence
Products Liability		Limit of Indemnity - £2,000,000 any one period of insurance

Charity trustee cover is automatically included up to £100,000 when public liability cover is taken to give registered charities greater protection for claims against mistakes made by trustees.

To discuss the specific insurance needs of your Churches Together group please contact us by calling 0845 7773322 or visit our website www.ecclesiastical.co.uk to find out more.