Why you should review your charity insurance yearly

Why you should review your charity insurance yearly

When you’re running a charity or not-for-profit organisation, we know there’s a lot to organise. From managing your premises to overseeing volunteer rotas, there’s plenty on your plate.

That’s why when it comes to tasks like sorting your insurance, it can be tempting to renew automatically, or simply go with your first quote. Well, as experts within the not-for-profit sector, we’re here to explain why it may be worth conducting a more thorough annual review of your charity insurance.

A lack of time can sometimes lead to charity trustees renewing their insurance by letting it roll over from the previous year’s cover. It’s not uncommon to presume that insurance professionals have everything covered and to simply accept your auto-renewal or the first quote you get.

But as specialists in the sector, we’re here to encourage you to undertake a more thorough review of your charity insurance. Here are some reasons why:

1. Your charity’s assets and risks may have changed

When your charity insurance renewal information comes through, it may be tempting to only look at the premium and bypass most other details. After all, as a charity, money can be a constant challenge. However, it’s important that both you and your insurance provider have more than just a glance at your renewal.

As with your car insurance, a lot can change with your charity in the space of a year. You may have changed vehicle, been involved in an accident, or even clocked up some points on your licence. When you renew with this sort of cover, it’s important to review the details of last year’s policy, then update the insurer with any changes to get an accurate quote.

The same can be said for charity insurance. In a year, you may have more fleet vehicles, more staff, more valuable assets within your premises, and therefore, more risk. If this is the case, automatically accepting a renewal can be an issue as the quote won’t take into consideration those changes – leaving you under (or over!) insured.

Being underinsured means that should something happen to your organisation, you wouldn’t have the full cover required when claiming. For example, imagine your organisation is unable to continue operating due to a fire. If you were trying to claim for loss of revenue, you may find out that you’re underinsured and therefore don’t have enough cover to protect your charity.

Being over-insured would mean that your charity is paying for cover it doesn’t need.

Charities have a lot of exposure to loss (such as legal liability) and their needs are complex and varied. This is why your charity insurance needs a thorough annual review – working with a charity insurance specialist – to make sure all diverse risks are covered in a well-thought-out approach.

2. Many brokers have exclusive insurer partners

Many insurance brokers work with insurers in exclusive partnerships, meaning that you can’t access those products via any other means.  For example, at Howden, as well as having access to the entire insurance market, we have two insurer partners who provide a charity insurance product exclusively to us. This ensures we can always be as competitive as possible for our clients when tailoring quotes to each organisation.

3. It’s smart to consider value as well as price

As a not-for-profit organisation, we know money will be at the forefront of everything you do. And while cost is extremely important to consider whilst conducting your annual insurance review, it’s also a great opportunity to look at other elements of your cover – such as the service you receive and how ‘fit for purpose’ your cover is.

Level of service

As a busy charity, when reviewing your insurance cover for the next year, level of service is important to consider – as well as making sure you’re getting the best value for money possible.

Did you speak with your current insurer over the last year? If so, were you happy with the experience? If you didn’t need to speak with them, do you know what the process is, and how long it would take them to get back to you? What level of expertise do they have?

At Howden, our team remains dedicated to our clients throughout the course of their insurance policy. We work hard to make sure our clients get fast solutions to their routine needs. For example, if you need to make a change to your policy, we try our best to respond the same day.

Understanding your risks

It’s also important to make sure you’re working with a team of specialists who can work in partnership with you to understand your organisation’s unique risks. Our team is here to work with you to get the most appropriate level of cover – bringing you along on the journey so that you fully understand the risks associated with your organisation and how you should protect against them within your cover.

If you were to opt for cover based on the cost, without giving much thought to all risk elements, getting it wrong could mean devastating consequences for your organisation, trustees, and finances in the event you need to make a claim.

4. A chance to work on aspirations

Many trustees have continuous plans for their charities. But sometimes, just getting the ‘business as usual’ work done is enough to occupy your working hours. It can then be difficult to make the time to pursue new ideas.

A charity insurance review will make you think about the future. Are you planning to grow? Purchase more fleet vehicles? Expand into new areas to offer a new service?

You’ll need to make sure that your organisation is covered for all risks involved. So, your annual insurance review can be a great time to lay out all the risks on the table. You can then plan to protect against them so that insurance isn’t standing in your way when the time comes to roll out your big plans.

How does your current insurance broker score?

We’ve put together some key questions to help you effectively measure the performance of your current broker, and what elements you should be looking for when selecting a new one: 

Does the broker understand your organisation? A good broker goes beyond tick-box questions. They visit your premises, understand your operations, and appreciate your ethos. This helps them manage your risks, identify exposures, and highlight areas lacking coverage.

How good is your broker’s access to the insurance market? Does the broker approach many insurers or just a few? Limited options might mean you're not getting the best value or coverage. Specialist brokers often have special arrangements with insurers, allowing them to:

• Negotiate better terms
• Access exclusive cover options
• Provide tailored solutions
• Leverage strong relationships for efficient claims processing

How easy is it to make a claim? Your broker should provide strong support during claims, helping you navigate the process and ensuring a quick response. This allows you to focus on your organisation during a challenging time.

In summary, there are lots of benefits to conducting an annual review of your charity insurance. These include:

• Making sure you’re not under or over-insured
• Gaining exclusive access to insurers who only work with certain insurance providers
• Getting more competitive cover via a wider review of the insurance market
• Optimising for additional value to your charity (as well as price)
• Creating the opportunity to include risks relating to potential new ventures

You can lean on and work with your insurance provider to ensure your charity has the right level of cover – protecting against all relevant risks and giving your organisation the best chance of success going forward. Learn more about our solutions here or get in touch with our team today by emailing [email protected] or calling 0333 234 1351.