Hiscox business insurance and unoccupied premises during coronavius

David Woodfield
By David Woodfield, Chief Growth Officer

June 26th 2020

Last updated June 25, 2020

Now the government has started to lift some of the lockdown restrictions, you might be able to re-open your business. On the other hand, you could be among those business owners who are still unable to reopen, maybe because of personal circumstances or because of the industry you work in.

Whatever your current circumstances, please read the following information to make sure you know exactly where you stand regarding your current Hiscox insurance policy and highlight some of the conditions you need to be aware of.

Even if you’ve already re-opened and your policy cover remains unaffected, we recommend you read over the statement of fact provided when you bought your policy, to make you can comply with the policy terms and conditions.

Please contact us if:

If you are allowed to open your premises, but you have decided not to do so for the time being, you will need to inform us of this as soon as possible. You don’t have to contact us if you’re shielding or for any of the other reasons detailed below.

You can contact us by either:

You do not have to contact us if:

If you have decided not to open but you can do so, and you can ensure that you can visit the premises at least every 7 days, that you are not allowed to re-open due to government guidelines (gyms, nail bars, massage and tattoo parlours etc.), then as lockdown and travel restrictions ease, you will need to ensure you can comply with your insurers unoccupancy conditions, in particular:

  • You have shut off the water supply to the premises (unless it is linked to fire protection, such as a sprinkler system).
  • You ensure that measures are taken to prevent breaking and entering and/or theft, like checking the premises is physically secure and that intruder alarms are operational and set.
  • You ensure that fire alarms are operational, especially those linked to the likes of central station monitoring.

If you and your employees are shielding and cannot open, for travel guidance, or government guidance in your local area means you would breach regulations and are therefore unable to meet unoccupancy conditions of your policy, don’t worry you will still be covered and you do not need to notify us if you can’t comply.

You also do not to contact us if you are open and trading as normal.

You can check your policy wording terms and conditions by referring to your welcome pack we sent you when you bought the policy.

We hope you, your employees and your business stay safe, and should anything change regarding the information above, we’ll be in touch.

For updated government advice please see here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Bionic Financial Services Limited. Registered in England & Wales Registered No: 07548195 Registered company address: 4th Floor, The Minster Building, 21 Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7AG Bionic Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.