Business Interruption | Covid Claims – Update

You may have seen in the media, that The Supreme Court has upheld the judgement on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) business interruption (BI) insurance test case.

The result of the appeal will be welcome news for some small businesses in the UK, but please note:

That the ruling only applies to those clients where the BI policy wording was ambiguous.  Unfortunately in the majority of cases BI cover for the pandemic event was clearly excluded in policy wordings.

We are currently reviewing the impact for our customers and will make contact with those positively affected. Please bear with us while this happens.

Background

The financial regulator brought the case forward in May to seek legal clarity on whether insurers were obligated to pay out on BI claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the UK High Court passed its long-awaited judgement on the FCA’s BI insurance test case in September 2020 (ruling in favour of policyholders on the majority of key issues), the UK Supreme Court granted permission for the FCA and a group of insurance and reinsurance companies to appeal its ruling.

Via a live video link this morning (15th Jan 2020), a UK Supreme Court representative explained that, “the appeals of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Hiscox Action Group are substantially allowed, and the insurer’s appeals are dismissed.”