by Iain McIlwee | 1 Nov, 2020 | Insurance, Main News Feed
The PM has announced that, in line with the new National Lockdown announced on the 31st October, Furlough arrangements through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be extended “until December”. Under the extended scheme, workers in any part of the UK who will be paid at least 80% of their salary up to £2,500 a month. The flexibility of the current CJRS will be retained to allow employees to continue to work where they can.
Employers small or large, charitable or non-profit are eligible and because more businesses will need to close, they will now be asked to pay just National Insurance and Pensions contributions for their staff during the month of November – making this more generous than support currently on offer.
The proposed Job Support Scheme will not be introduced until after Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends.
Access the FIS COVID-19 Hub here.
by Iain McIlwee | 18 Sep, 2020 | Insurance, Main News Feed
The Construction Leadership Council guidance on trade credit insurance during COVID-19 has been updated to reflect the latest Reinsurance Scheme information. This includes a list of participating insurers and scheme rules.
Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) is a vital lifeline in the finishes and interiors sector, giving businesses throughout the supply chain the confidence to trade with one another. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created problems for many businesses. Given the sudden disruption to economic activity, reduced cashflow and the resulting increased risks of insolvency and default in the market, businesses have seen trade credit insurance withdrawn, premiums increasing significantly, or the level of cover offered reduced. The withdrawal of cover could cause further difficulties for businesses, by placing pressure on liquidity, necessitating changes to payment terms, and depriving SMEs in the construction sector access to trade credit, on which they depend.
TCI provides protection for businesses when customers do not pay their debts owed for products or services. A TCI policy will reimburse the policyholder in the event of the buyer’s non-payment, up to a certain credit limit set by the insurer. This form of insurance can prevent the negative impact of non-payment from having a ‘domino effect’ along construction supply chains.
On 4 June 2020 the Government announced the temporary Trade Credit Reinsurance Scheme. The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) welcomed the announcement in a press release. The Scheme is now operational and final details, including participating insurers has been published on GOV.UK.
The Insurance and Surety Working Group for CLC COVID-19 Task Force has produced this summary guidance to support businesses in the construction and maintenance supply chain, including builder’s merchants, electrical wholesalers, manufacturers and suppliers. This guidance aims to provide practical advice and considerations for discussions with brokers and insurers when seeking TCI. It also provides an outline of the TCI reinsurance scheme between government and available insurers.
Read the full guidance here.
by Iain McIlwee | 4 Jun, 2020 | Insurance, Main News Feed
Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) this morning welcomed the announcement from Business Secretary Alok Sharma that Government is able to provide guarantees of up to £10 billion to Trade Credit Insurance schemes for business-to-business transactions.
Trade Credit Insurance, provides essential cover to hundreds of thousands of business-to-business transactions, will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees, ministers announced today. Business Secretary of State Alok Sharma said:
“Trade Credit Insurance is a daily necessity for hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK – particularly those in non-service sectors such as the manufacturing and construction sectors. Our £10 billion guarantee gives peace of mind to businesses, allowing them to continue to trade and maintaining liquidity in supply chains. This reinsurance scheme is an important step as we carefully set about firing up our economy as we emerge from the pandemic.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen said:
“Billions of pounds of business turnover is supported by Trade Credit Insurance each year. This reinsurance scheme will see the government and insurers working closely together to ensure that the vast majority of this cover remains in place. This means that businesses and supply chains can continue to be protected at this pivotal time as we begin to kick start the economy.”
Chief Executive of the Finishes and Interiors Sector, Iain McIlwee added:
“The guarantees will provide much needed reassurance to manufacturers and distributors and support them in extending credit to contractors in the Finishes and Interiors Sector. A key risk identified in our planning was concern that credit agreements could shorten at a time when cash is already short. Cash flow will be critical over the next few months and whilst many have opted not to or been knocked back by schemes like CBILS, the removal of lines of credit traditionally available to them would have been catastrophic. I know there has been some hard work put in to this through the Construction Leadership Council and we are grateful to our colleagues at the Construction Products Association and Builders Merchant’s Federation who have done a lot of the heavy lifting”.
Trade Credit Insurance underwrites an estimated £350 billion of economic activity of more than 630,000 businesses in the UK each year. It insures suppliers selling goods against the company they are selling to defaulting on payment, giving businesses the confidence to trade with one another.
The full statement from the Minister is available here.
by Nicky Smith | 15 Feb, 2018 | Insurance, Main News Feed
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, anecdotal evidence emerged of fire insurance companies revising terms for professional indemnity and other forms of insurance.
As part of the Construction Products Association’s work for the Industry Response Group (IRG), CPA is joining with BuildUK and CIC to survey a cross-section of the industry to understand the extent of this problem for organisations operating in areas deemed high risk. The CPA would like to encourage the FIS membership to participate and disseminate to any deemed able to contribute to the results.
To participate in the short survey click here. The survey will close on 9 March 2018, all responses are anonymous.
