The recent wave of attacks in London, Manchester and across Europe have uncovered huge gaps in the way different terrorism policies respond.

Pool Re, the government-backed insurer that sits behind 90 per cent of terrorism policies sold to UK companies, has now recognised that its cover has limitations, as it can only provide cover if physical damage is sustained to the insured property itself.

Beech Underwriting who are Market Leaders for Terrorism cover outside Pool Re and have the widest acceptance criteria of any provider. Their Terrorism policy can be extended to include Denial of Access should business interruption occur because of an incident (causing any property damage) within 250m of their insured property. However this is not true of other terrorism polices, and some policies have left businesses without cover for the economic damage they face.

In addition Beech can cover property up to over £300million any one building which far exceeds any other provider other than PoolRe. 99% of all quotes can be dealt with by their Online Trading Platform and all quotes and schedules can be downloaded or emailed directly to the client. Any residential terrorism policy covers “Emergency Overnight Accom up to £25,000 plus Cat & Dog Hotel coverage up to £10,000 plus loss of metered water following an incident”. None of which are covered by PoolRe or other providers.

Beech has “No Decline Areas” and cover can be provided in Northern Ireland, Eire, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man,Gibraltar, Mainland Europe (i.e. the EEC) and North America. Please remember that the Pool Re cover DOES NOT extend to Northern Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Island or Gibraltar nor to any overseas risks. It is purely mainland UK only for UK mainland risks.

Beech is not reliant on the Declaration of an Act by the Treasury. Following the

Borough Street Market incident which Beech covers, Loss Adjusters were there on the Monday morning as no one was allowed access before. The works to repair the property started on the Thursday, which was the earliest the Police would allow. Beech has a 24-hour emergency helpline in respect of claims. Pool Re has also declined a number of losses to traders occupying the Borough Street Market.

We understand that Pool Re is now planning to lobby the government to allow it to broaden the coverage it can offer. However, until such time this is successful, if at all, it can leave clients exposed. As such, we are now questioning whether we can recommend Pool Re in good faith knowing it may be inadequate in today’s political climate.

Additionally, it should be noted the Borough Market incident is yet to even be certified as a Terrorist event by HM Treasury. This certification is required by Pool Re before their policies respond, leaving uncertainty to many policy holders, regardless of whether they sustained physical damage in the attack or not.

All Beech policies are backed by certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s.