Frequently Asked Questions

IPT stands for Insurance Premium Tax – introduced by the government in 1994. As a tax, it is a legal requirement on all insurance policies, unless they are specifically exempt (such as life insurance or some commercial insurances). The current rate of IPT is 12% (as at June 2016). 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulate insurance intermediaries. Inman Insurance Broker Group is a trading style of Inman & Associates Ltd. Inman & Associates Ltd are registered in England & Wales at 10 Mercia Business Village, Torwood Close, Westwood Business Park, Coventry, CV4 8HX. Companies House Registration Number 7225537. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Entered on the FCA Register, number 543324, at www.fca.org.uk/register.

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim with no upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS. http://www.fscs.org.uk/

The Insurance Act 2015 came into force on the 12th of August 2016 and changes the way the law deals with the duty of disclosure for commercial insurance contracts. The purpose of the Act is to update the current law to reflect the way in which the insurance market has evolved in modern times with the aim being to achieve a fair and balanced regime between insurers and insureds.

What you need to do?

Under the Act insurance contracts will still be based on good faith and you will have a duty to make a fair presentation of the risk to insurers which will include disclosure of:

• Every material circumstance which as an insured you are expected to know or ought to know about the risk for which you are seeking insurance; or
• Sufficient information to put a prudent insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquires to revel those material circumstances.
• The core information we ask for as part of proposal forms or insurance submissions (such as claims information or asset value) will continue to lie at the core of a Fair Presentation and should be completed as accurately and fully as possible.

In addition to answering our questions, you must flag ‘special or unusual facts’ about the risk.

These will be unique to your business but could for example include:

• Operational factors which make your business different from competitors or industry standards.
• Recent or planned business developments such as new products and services, acquisitions, customers or contracts, which will affect your risk profile.
• Known issues where you already have a concern about the potential for increased risk in future.
• Changes in business operations, which might not be fully explained in the standard underwriting information such as business units with different working practices.

For all changes it is important to describe the circumstances and what you think the risk impact could be.

You must ensure that any information you provide is correct to the best of your knowledge and subject to you having conducted a reasonable search for information. This could require you to obtain or verify information with a number of sources who may hold or have access to important information about your business or the insurance risk.

In the event that you make a misrepresentation of information which is considered to be deliberate or reckless i.e. you were aware that you were making a misrepresentation or did not care whether or not you were misrepresenting the risk, an insurer will be allowed to avoid your policy, which means that any claims you make will not be met and no refund of the insurance premium will be made and an Insurer may recover any amounts that they have paid or claim any expenses that they may have incurred. If however you make a misrepresentation of information which is not deliberate or reckless i.e. you appropriately carried out your duty to make a fair presentation but made an honest mistake or omission then the remedy available to the Insurer depends on what they would have done had the full information been available to them when the policy was taken out. There are a number of remedies which may be applied by the insurer to achieve a fair outcome:

• If the insurer can prove that it would not have written the policy at all, the insurer can cancel the policy from inception but must return the premiums paid
• If the insurer would have accepted the risk but on different terms, the contract is to be treated as if it included those terms.
• If the insurer would have entered into the contract but charged a higher premium, the insurer may reduce proportionately the amount to be paid on a claim. Some Insurers may opt to charge the appropriate additional premium rather than exercise this option.

Warranties & Terms A warranty is a term in an insurance contract which must be strictly complied with. The Act also includes changes to the way that the law deals with insurers rights in the event of breaches of warranties and terms. These changes will affect both commercial and personal insurance contracts. Clauses which have the effect of turning representations made by you into a warranty will be prohibited under the Act. An insurer will no longer be able to avoid a policy where a breach of warranty occurs; instead cover will be suspended for the period that you are in breach of the warranty. This means that where it is possible you may be able to remedy the breach of warranty and continue with the insurance policy; However Insurers will not be responsible for a loss during any period where cover was suspended for a breach of warranty. The insurer cannot avoid a policy or limit or discharge its liability for non-compliance with any terms which are not relevant to the loss or did not increase the risk of loss which has occurred. An insurer may wish to contract out of certain elements of the Act subject to your understanding and agreement and we will advise you of the implications of this should the situation arise.

We pride ourselves on the services we provide to our clients and we hope that you do not have cause to complain.  In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied about something we have or haven't done, we have a set procedure to follow.  Please contact our office for details. In writing: Inman & Associates Ltd, 10 Mercia Business Village, Torwood Close, Westwood Business Park, Coventry, CV4 8HX. By phone: 02476 471450 Some clients are able to take unresolved complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can contact FOS using the various methods below or by visiting their websitehttp://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ By Phone Monday to Friday – 8am to 8pm and Saturday – 9am to 1pm 0800 023 4 567 (calls to this number are now free on mobile phones and landlines) 0300 123 9 123 (calls to this number cost no more than calls to 01 and 02 numbers) or from abroad on +44 20 7964 0500 By Post The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower London E14 9SR