CONTENT PAGE

Page

  1. Introduction 2
  1. Various Insurance Indemnities 2-3
  2. Common Insurance Perils: 3
  3. Buildings Insurance/ Storm Damage3
  4. Impact / Collision Damage 4
  5. School Insurance 4
  6. School Journey Insurance 4
  7. Other Insurance Queries: 5
  8. Insurance for Governors5
  9. Letters from Solicitors 5
  10. Academy Status 5-6
  11. Work Experience Staff 6
  12. Staff Secondment 6
  13. Volunteers 7
  14. Stolen Laptops and Cameras 7
  15. Computer 7
  16. Laptop/IPads/Tablets 7-8
  17. Offsite Storage 8
  18. Street Parties 8
  19. Firework Displays 9
  20. Children on Cycling Training 9
  21. Sleepovers 9
  22. Self-Employed Tutors / Contractors 9
  23. Lettings / Hiring A Hall 9-10
  24. After School Clubs 10
  25. Use of Bouncy Castle 10
  26. Weekend Farmers Market / Car boot Sales 11
  27. Boiler / Lift Inspections 11
  28. Pupils with Medical Conditions 11
  29. Non-WBC School Swimming Pools 12
  30. Hired Equipment 12
  31. Personal Property 12
  32. Increase in Premium 12
  33. EL Claims 13
  34. Record Keeping / Reports 13

INSURANCE GUIDANCE NOTES FOR SCHOOLS

  • WANDSWORTH BOROUGH COUNCIL(WBC) INSURANCE WITH ZURICH

WBC’s Insurance programme is with Zurich Municipal (ZM), except for:

-RMP Ltd (Insurance with QBE Ltd) – Liability,

-Risk Management Partners (RMP) Ltd (the insurance is placed with American International Group (AIG)) – Fidelity Guarantee,

-Thistle Ins Services at Lloyd’s – Terrorism Property Ins (via Brokers JLT)

-Aviva - Engineering Plant (Lift & Boiler) Ins (via Brokers JLT)

-Bureau Veritas (BV) – Engineering Plant (Lift & Boiler) Inspection (via Brokers JLT)

WBC’s Insurance cover with ZM for Buildings and / or Contents, is: Fire, Lightning, Aircraft, Explosion (including full Terrorism cover), Riot and Civil Commotion, with no excess: this is supported by a Balance of Perils Ins policy for school contents only, effectively topping up the contents cover to Comprehensive. The policy covers school contents: it does not cover personal belongings of pupils or staff, It does not cover property in the open, It does not cover theft from unattended road vehicles, and theft is only covered from the school premises. A £500 theft excess applies, and a £200 excess for all other losses.

Premiums alter from one year to the next because of increased sums insured, Teacher and Pupil role numbers changes year on year, adverse claims experience, andchanges in IPT (Insurance Premium Tax),so the annual value of the premium can be different.

  • VARIOUS INSURANCE EXPLAINED

EL (Employers’ Liability) Insurance covers the insured for injury / illness to their own employees, arising from negligence. Most Insurers do NOT offer less cover than £5m or £10m as a minimum. This insuranceis mandatory by law, if an individual or a company employs people.

PL (Public Liability) Insurance covers legal liability for accidental injury, and / or damage, to third parties / their property, arising from negligence or breach of statutory duty – it does not cover financial loss. £5m is the accepted market minimum.

FG (Fidelity Guarantee) Insurance covers the insured for dishonesty of employees, leading to financial loss.

PN / PI (Professional Indemnity / Negligence) Insurance covers financial loss arising from professional advice specifically given for a fee.

OI(Officials’ Indemnity) Insurance is general advice given in the normal course of business activities, resulting in financial loss.

We normally look for £5m EL, £5m PL, £5m FG, and £5m PI/PN, on the larger contracts.

L&S (Libel & Slander)insurance covers compensation awarded against the Council should someone feel that we have written or said something defamatory about them that is also false. Slander is the term for anything that has been spoken and libel for anything written.

  • COMMON INSURANCE PERILS

-BUILDINGS INSURANCE

Schools are covered for buildings and contents insurance. The balance of perils insurance only covers contents. The “insured perils” covered for buildings are limited, but for contents are more comprehensive in nature. Contents include items the school is responsible for, such as laminated/parquet flooring, and windows, but not major items such as roof renewal. Insured perils have to be “sudden and immediate.”

-STORM DAMAGE TO THE BUILDING

Schools are not covered for storm / subsidence. The Buildings have limited cover. The Balance of Perils cover only applies to the School’s contents. The Council do not insure School Buildings comprehensively. There is no storm cover for School Buildings.

-IMPACT / COLLISON DAMAGE

There is cover under the Insurance Policy for impact damage to brick walls; however there is no cover for wooden fences, Concrete bollards, playground fencing, and metal bollards, and items generally left “in the open.”

It is always best to make a claim against the offending party for impact collision if the details of the driver and the vehicle are known (because the school do not have to pay an excess).

If a vehicle collides with / crashes into the School gate (and if the vehicle can't be traced / there are no registration number available), impact damage is covered under the Balance of Perils policy no. SP 0521 (not the main Buildings Insurance policy no. QLA 01E231 0433), and a £200 policy excess applies.

-SCHOOLS INSURANCE

The policy covers school buildings and contents for a varying range of “Insured Perils”. Some carry an excess. It does not cover personal belongings of pupils or staff. It does not cover property in the open. It does not cover theft from unattended road vehicles, and finally.

-SCHOOL JOURNEY INSURANCE COVER

Schools do not need to buy extra Insurance for most school trips / visits (e.g. a day trip to a Museum / the Theatre, etc.). The School will rely on their existing Public Liability (PL) Insurance arrangements. The Insurance arrangements at the venue (e.g. an accident at the Museum which is due to the negligence of the Museum / its staff)should be covered by the Museum / their Insurer, or the Insurance arrangements “on route” (e.g. an accident on the train / platform) should be covered by TfL / National Rail etc.

Where extra / separate Insurance IS recommended is when:

  1. the trip is for more than 24 hours, and / or
  2. the trip is abroad, and / or
  3. The trip involves hazardous activities (such as mountain climbing, abseiling, potholing) and the event organiser does NOT have PL Insurance, or Personal Accident Insurance covering participants.

Separate School Trip Insurance is easily arranged by telephone with specialist Insurers such as Zurich Municipal, on 01252 387852, or via email:

It is the responsibility of the School to arrange any extra Insurance cover it decides to take out (following a risk assessment) directly with the Insurer: the Council’s Insurance Section will not get involved in this process.

If the school is unclear or needs advice, on this or any other Insurance issues, please contact the Insurance Team on 020 8871 6413/6414, or e-mail

  • OTHER INSURANCE SCENARIOS / QUERIES

-INSURANCE POLICY FOR GOVERNORS

Governors are covered (as well as staff, the School, and the Council) under the Liability Insurance Policies, for Employers Liability, Public Liability, Officials Indemnity, and Libel and Slander (EL, PL, OI, and L & S) – a brief description is given above.

It is important to note that Insurance does not cover every liability that could arise, e.g. unfair dismissal cases, Employment Tribunal cases, etc. (if a Governor was individually sued in a UD/ET case, there is no Insurance cover for the legal defence costs incurred by a Governor).

EL and PL Insurance cover applies on and off School site, and it also applies 24/7.

This covers the Council/Staff/Schools etc. for “legal liability” claims made for: accidental injury to third parties, accidental damage to third party property, errors / omissions causing financial loss to a third party, or illness / disease of employees. Negligence must be provedby a claimant for such a claim to succeed.

-LETTERS FROM SOLICITORS

Any such letters received by schools should be scanned and e-mailed, or forwarded by post to: , IMMEDIATELY please (not to Legal, or Children’s Services Admin).

-ACADEMY STATUS AND INSURANCE

When a school becomes an Academy, the Council no longer arranges Insurance for that School, effective from the date they become an Academy. This will include the statutoryrequirement to inspect boilers and lifts.

If Bureau Veritas (BV), the company who carry out plant inspections for WBC, gets left out of the loop, we may get billed for an inspection after the school has become an Academy.

Therefore, BV have to be instructed to remove Academies from WBC's location inspection list.

-WORK EXPERIENCE STAFF

Work experience placements are included under the definition of “employees” on the Insurance policy. The details below are needed when completing paperwork for a Work experience Student if asked:

Employer Liability Insurance Policy Number / Ask Insurance Section for details
Employer Liability Insurance Expiry Date / 31 March
Name of Insurance Company / Ask Insurance Section for details

-SECONDMENT OF STAFF

Our Employers Liability (EL) (and Public Liability (PL)) Insurance policies usually apply to staff seconded out. The other organisation must also have EL and PL Ins protection. Often (but not always), liability is determined by who is controlling the manner / method in which work is carried out / undertaken.

For example, if WBC has trained its staff to perform a certain job in a certain way, but on other organisations do it differently, and someone gets injured, the question of who is liable can be complicated, and depends upon the circumstances in each case.

-VOLUNTEERS

Unpaid volunteers used in connection with the School’s business are usually covered as employees, whilst carrying out the employer’s “business”. This usually depends on the circumstances.

WBC’s PL Insurance will cover the school*, Head*, employees*, volunteers*, and WBC* too, for claims for injury or damage, where the claimant can prove that * has been negligent.

Professional Indemnity(PI) Insurance usually covers financial loss suffered by a third party as a result of professional services provided (usually, but not always, for a fee).

It would be advisable for WBC Community schools to ask qualified therapists (whether paid or not) acting for the school to provide evidence of their PI Insurance. Presumably a qualified therapist is self employed and cannot legally operate as a therapist without their own PI Insurance.

Whilst WBC has a blanket PL Insurance policy, it does not have a blanket PI Insurance policy.

WBC does have a blanket Officials Indemnity (OI) policy though, which does cover financial loss only to a third party, where general advice is given freely, if it can be proved that a Council employee / volunteer has been negligent in some way.

In other words, injury or damage, or financial loss, will be covered, if due to Council negligence.

-STOLEN LAPTOPS / CAMERAS / ETC.

A claim can be made if the following conditions are met:

  1. Claims need to be made within 30 days
  2. There has to be a break-in to the school / or out of the school.
  3. There is a £500 excess per claim for a break in theft incident

-COMPUTER

Servers and fixed IT equipment at school are insured for loss (theft) / Damage (comprehensive). This equipment is also covered for Loss of Data (cost of reinstating data, following a fire etc.). The additional expenses incurred to do this are also covered. Cover only applies on school premises for theft.

-LAPTOP/IPADS/TABLETS IN SCHOOL

Theft of IT equipment including laptops is only coveredon school premises, not at the homes of staff or students. Theft cover on school sites carries a £500 excess (and £200 on other losses).

"Accidental damage" to Laptops etc. IS covered by WBCoff site as well as on site and it carries a £200 excess.

Laptops are not covered off school site, unless they are purchased and maintained through the Council’s Central IT network. Schools don’t usually buy their computer equipment in this way.

We have no control over the security of the equipment when it is off site, especially at the home of staff or students.

For this reason, staff / students should not be allowed to take IPad / Tablets off site unless the School have checked they have contents insurance, and they will claimon it in the event of loss or damage of Council equipment in their custody or control.

School staff shouldn’t take school equipment home unless the school have checked that they have contents insurance, as a) the item is in their custody and control (they are effectively the “owner” whilst it’s at their premises), and b) we don’t insure IT kit for theft off the school site.

Our Insurance will not cover such items for theft. Between school and home, IT kit is not covered if left in an unattended road vehicle: a Motor Insurance policy won’t cover it either.

-OFFSITE STORAGE

Our Insurance does not cover storage offsite while the School’s contents or equipment is in a commercial storage, if the school is moving site and will need to store equipment for a period of time.

If you're planning to store a lot of computer equipment off site, you have 2 options: a) use the storage company's ins (theirs will be comprehensive), or b) to extend ours, we'll need an inventory of the items, the "from and to" dates in storage, the name and address of the storage location, and a rough idea of the security there (number of units hired, what floor, alarmed?).

-STREET PARTIES

The popularity of street parties has increased in recent years and with several major events happening in the UK, there are plenty of causes for celebration.

You can purchase Zurich’s Street Event Insurance through the My Community Starter website – (

-FIREWORK DISPLAYS

Our Insurance does not cover Schools for firework displayson School grounds. The only way it can be done is if a professional outside organisation were to come in to do the display for the School, because the organisation will have their own Insurance to cover them.

-CHILDREN ON CYCLING TRAINING

Children are not covered by the council’s insurance whilst doing this training.

Our Public Liability policycovers injury or damage the pupilsmay cause to others, where theCouncil’s or pupils negligence is the cause of the accident.

If a child is injured on the highway by a vehicle whilst undertaking cycle training, and is behaving appropriately, the incident will fall under the Road Traffic Act, and will be the responsibility of the motorist, or another negligent third party. Therefore, the child's claim is against the negligent party.

-SLEEP OVERS

The School's PL Insurance will cover sleep over events at the school; however, there is no cover for personal belongings. Risk assessments need to be done, and appropriate adult supervision is necessary.

-SELF-EMPLOYED TUTORS / CONTRACTORS

Where a self-employed person, or a company, is paid to operate on behalf of the Council,in or out of Council premises, they must have Public Liability (PL) Insurance in force, with a minimum indemnity limit of £5m, and must show the Council or school written evidence of it.

-LETTINGS / HIRING A HALL & THEFT

Schools letting, or considering letting, parts of the school to parents or outsiders for functions like parties /sports/fitness, should make sure that they always:

  1. draft a letting agreement for both the other party and the school to sign: this agreement should:
  2. make the hirer responsible for any property damage, any financial loss, and any injury, arising from the hire / let:
  3. make the hirer take out Public Liability (PL) Ins for a minimum Indemnity limit of £5m:
  4. Obtain a copy of that PL Ins policy, and (if it’s an annual let) see a copy of it at every renewal.

If all of points 1 – 4 are not complied with, the hire / let should be refused.

It is the responsibility of the school to have a letting agreement in place, and to carry out risk assessments. The Policy can be purchased from about £50.00.

A “one day event” PL Insurance can be purchased from around £50-£60.

BREAK-INS / PERSONAL BELONGINGS

a)Theft of property from schools is only covered if forcible and violent entry (i.e. a break in) has occurred, and

b)Loss of, or damage, to personal belongings of staff / pupils is not covered by the Council’s Insurance: cover only applies to Councilproperty.

-AFTER SCHOOL CLUB INSURANCE

The school will only be legally liable to third parties for accidental injury to third parties, or accidental damage to third party property.

The “Club” should sign a formal letting agreement, which needs to be backed up by Employers’ and Public Liability (EL and PL) Insurance, which THE School will need to see evidence of, before allowing the Club to “let” the premises. The important policy to the school PL: this needs to be for an indemnity limit of at least £5m: this is Council policy. EL Insuranceis compulsory by law.

-USE OF BOUNCY CASTLES

The use of bouncy castles will be covered by the School's PL Insurance, for use at Children’s Play Dayor similar events.

A full risk assessment must be conducted.

However, the bouncy castle has to be tested for (electrical) safety, and there has to be adequate supervision at all times. Reasonable precautions must be adhered to (e.g. do not let 3 year olds on with 15 year olds!)

-WEEKEND FARMERS MARKET / CAR BOOT SALES ETC.

In respect of Farmers Markets / Car Boot Sales, etc;

1. The school should display disclaimers saying e.g. "the school accepts no liability for injury, or damage to property, arising from the activities of the Farmers Market",

2. A formal signed letting agreement should be in place (school, and organiser) making organiser responsible for any claim: this is to be backed up by aPublic Liability (PL) Insurance Policy for the Organiser.

3.The school should see evidence of their PL Ins policy: the indemnity limit should be at least £5m any one occurrence.

The school's insurances do not cover injury or damage due to the hirer's negligence.

-BOILER / LIFT INSPECTION

Our Insurerprovides the Council and its schools with a variety of Insurance covers. It is a statutory requirement to have both Boilers and Lifts inspected at prescribed intervals in addition to any maintenance contract. Bureau Veritas (BV) currently carry this out for the Council and its schools.

-PUPILS WITH MEDICAL CONDITION

The Public Liability policy covers the insured, school governing body, teachers, other employees and volunteers should a claim be made against them by a pupil who alleges that they have sustained an injury or damage to their property as a result of the negligent provision/application of“medical treatment.”
The policy covers the administration or supervision of prescription and non prescription medication orally, or by injection or by tube by trained personnel, and the application of dressings. This applies to both straightforward and complex conditions. The teachers, employees and volunteers must have received appropriate training; this should be reviewed on a regular basis.
The policy excess/deductible, if any, will apply as normal. The PL Policy applies to all school activities including extra curricular activities and school trips both in the UK, and abroad. Cover also applies to any first aid activities carried out by teachers, employees and volunteers.