Broker caught up in Hiscox policy furore wants to ‘help affected agents’

Propertymark-approved insurance broker Gallagher has told The Negotiator that it is working to help estate agents who took out business interruption insurance provided by Hiscox but sourced via the Gallagher broker network.

As we reported last week, the property industry is just one sector whose SME business owners have discovered that their Hiscox business interruption policy does not cover them for a major catastrophe such as the Coronavirus crisis.

Battles between companies and the insurer have spilled out into the media including several national newspapers.

This has included The Guardian, Times, Financial Times and City AM all of which have reported on business owners arguing that Hiscox and other insurers are trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities and ‘share the burden’ during the crisis.

Today Bermuda-based Hiscox, which generates revenues of nearly £3 billion a year, issued a statement saying: “Like others in the industry, Hiscox UK’s core small commercial package policies do not provide cover for business interruption as a result of the general measures taken by the UK government in response to a pandemic.”

Statement

After The Negotiator reported on the problems being faced by estate agents with their business interruption insurance, Gallagher has now given us the following statement.

“Gallagher is the broker for the Propertymark scheme, underwritten by Hiscox,” its spokesperson said.

“As you would expect we are doing everything we reasonably can to support affected clients and we are in ongoing discussions with them currently.

“As the situation is still evolving it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”