Champagne Compass Celebrations

Champagne Compass Celebrations

Binnacle was established in a unique, strategic alliance between BH&HPA and Rural & Commercial Holdings back in December 2018.
The name Binnacle was chosen for the business because a binnacle supports and houses a ship’s compass.
Some six months later, it was celebrations all round this summer, when the Compass team were able to finally and formally celebrate the re-birth of their scheme.
The official grand opening of the airy new Binnacle/Compass offices took place in Pullman Court in Gloucester, which is also home to the British Holiday and Home Parks Association (BH&HPA).
Invited guests were welcomed by both the Compass and BH&HPA teams for a champagne lunch and a blue ribbon was cut to mark the occasion.
In welcoming everyone to the event, BH&HPA National Chairman Andrew Baragwanath explained how important it is to the Association to ensure that the right insurance cover and services are available to park business and their customers. He also outlined some of the history of the Compass Scheme, which dates back to 1976, and explained the work involved in establishing Binnacle.
Compass
Tel: 0344 274 0277
www.compassinsuranceservices.co.uk

Protect Your Assets

Protect Your Assets

protect your assests 1

ABOVE: Holiday Park Insurance cover must be able to cope with major disasters as well as everyday losses.

With so much of its notorious jargon and fine print to review, insurance can be a minefield of confusion for holiday park owners. But beware. Uncertainty over coverage can come at a heavy cost – especially if oversights are only spotted after events occur. “Park owners should seek out specialist brokers that offer cover specifically designed and tailored to suit the diversity of the parks industry,” advises of Compass Insurance. “Adequate cover will address both common, everyday losses and the more substantial losses that can be sustained in the event of a major disaster.” According to Compass, the most common holiday park claims involve:

• Tripping and slipping incidents
• Use of playground and activity equipment
• Material damage to third party property
• Injuries to employees
• Damage to holiday home stock
• Damage to communal buildings.
• Flooding

protect your assests 4Claims are also impacted by major weather events from time to time. In early 2018, the Beast from the East and Storm Emma resulted in a high rate of weather-related damage claims. For owners, matters are made more complicated as no two park businesses are the same: every business’ insurance requirements are unique. “Your customers will want the reassurance of extensive insurance cover for accidental damage, fi re, theft, storm, flooding and vermin,” advises Liz Harrison from Leisuredays. “Severe flooding, storms, or fire can cause signifi cant damage to a holiday park and if you’re in the unfortunate situation where many units are written off, then you’ll want these quickly removing from your park,” Liz continues. “The Leisuredays policy automatically includes £10,000 for each damaged unit to be removed, and for a new unit to be resited and connected to utilities.” Many industry brokers operate a network of local account executives who can support you in identifying your individual insurance needs.

protect your assests 6Tim Smyth, MD of Compass: “A good account executive will take time to fully understand your business and how it operates – and will support you in deciding on the appropriate levels of cover you need accordingly. “They will look for hidden and not-so-obvious risks which, left undetected, may pose a threat to your park. Sometimes optional/additional covers may be necessary, and your AE should be able to fi nd what best suits YOUR needs.” In addition, a good account executive should also be committed to regularly visiting your park and building a good relationship with you. Tim suggests: “They should aim to carry out an insurance review at regular intervals to check whether the insurance needs of your business have changed. If they have, your cover may need to be adjusted to reflect this.”

ADDING UP
protect your assests 2Some other key areas to consider when arranging insurance cover include the adequacy of your Sums Insured, the changing needs of your business and the terms, conditions and exclusion attached to your cover. Tim explains: “We sometimes see new clients whose previous cover or sum insured would not be adequate should an incident impact their income over a long period of time (e.g. longer than just 12 months). Protecting any Liability to the public through products or activities provided on the Park is also crucial.” At Wilby, holiday park insurance specialists through their Park Protect scheme, a campaign has been launched to help businesses protect themselves by raising the limits of their liability insurance. Wilby is recommending that businesses increase their indemnity limit for employers’ public and products liability cover to at least £30m. The company of trusted independent chartered insurancebrokers argue that recent cases mean that the bar has been raised, and businesses and individuals need to increase their level of protection.

COUNTING COST
protect your assests 5Wilby’s Managing Director Richard Blackburn explains: "It can be hard to imagine that when you have employers’, public or products liability cover of £5m, £10m or even £20m that there may be times this can be insufficient. “However, we live in an age where levels of litigation have never been higher. Businesses and individuals have an increased awareness of their legal rights, coupled with the relative ease of accessing the UK legal system to pursue a compensatory award where negligence is alleged.” The issue has been made worse by the fact that the costs attached to claims are also being driven ever higher, with previous awards used as a basis for future settlements. Changes to the discount rate, the figure used to help set compensation pay-outs when people suffer serious injuries, made in March 2017 mean the potential for even higher personal injury settlements is even greater. The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA), one of the leading UK insurance bodies which issues periodic advice to its members, now recommends a minimum indemnity limit of £23m. But, with the legal environment continually evolving, Wilby recommends that serious consideration is given to purchasing liability limits of no less than £30m.

Compass
Tel. 0344 274 0277
www.compassinsuranceservices.co.uk

Leisuredays
Tel. 01422 396 772
www.leisuredays.co.uk/parkoperator

Wilby
Tel. 01422 358 525
www.wilbyltd.co.uk