Business Interruption insurance - Can you claim?

Covid-19 is now a notifiable disease and has been officially designated a pandemic by the World Health organization. Businesses should now consider making a claim under any business interruption policy it has.

Most policies require any claim to be notified to the insurers as soon as possible, so you should check the specific terms of your policy and contact the insurer as a matter of urgency.

Policies that cover government ordered closures and pandemics/notifiable diseases should be able to claim.

If you are covered, you need to be able to prove the losses you have suffered. You will need records of previous years trading and records of any additional costs and expenses incurred.

Once a claim is submitted, you should ask for an interim payment.

Insurers being insurers, will scrutinise any claim carefully and look to reduce it wherever possible. it is important that you are well prepared to deal with any arguments they raise.

If you remain dissatisfied with the insurer’s decision, you should make a formal complaint through their complaints procedure and then consider referring the matter to the Financial Ombudsman who can deal with claims of up to £355,000.

If your claim exceeds this limit, you may need to consider legal action.

Should you need any further information, please contact a member of our Litigation team for further advice.