Frequently Asked Questions

It is important that all incidents that may lead to a claim are reported to us as soon as possible after the event.

If you are in any doubt as to what action to take, or if you need to tell us about an incident, please contact the Claims Team on 0121 698 8000 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday or contact us via email at [email protected]. Let us know the details of the incident and we will advise you what to do next.

Notify us immediately in the event of an incident that would require a claim, such as:

• A fatal accident
• An injury involving either referral to or actual hospital treatment
• Any allegations of libel or slander
• Any allegations of negligence arising out of tuition, coaching or advice given
• Any investigation under any child protection legislation
• Any circumstances involving damage to someone else property.

It is important to remember the following:

• Don't admit any responsibility
• Tell us what happened and if anybody has been injured
• Tell us if there has been any damage to property
• Identify the other party
• Report serious incidents to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on 0845 300 99 23
• Send any correspondence you receive to us immediately and unanswered
• Tell us if any claim is made against you

Further liability incident guidelines can be found on our policy and documents hub.

To apply for cover, you should:

• Be continuously affiliated with The Ramblers 
• Be a constituted club
• Have a referential rating which has been negotiated

Indemnity includes:

• Walks and rambles as organised and sanctioned by the affiliated club.
• Liability for club members who are sued as a result of an incident involving members’ domestic dogs when the dog is accompanying a member on a walk or activity.
• Social events arranged by or on behalf of the Rambling club.
• Individuals who may be interested in joining a club are covered, provided their name and contact details are properly recorded and the records retained. Insurers will allow a maximum of 3 walks under this extension of cover.
• A club member who causes injury, damage or financial loss to a fellow member.
• A club which borrows, rents or leases a premises for club meetings or social purposes and is held liable for damage to the facility.

If you have renewed your cover online before, you can follow the instructions in the renewal email you would have received.

If you choose to make payment by cheque, an administration charge of £30 will apply.

If you previously renewed off line, you should follow the instructions in this year’s renewal invitation letter.

Cover is available for all club members and volunteers whilst undertaking activities sanctioned by the club.

Activities that covered by the insurance include:

• Walks and rambles as organised and sanctioned by the club
• Advice and assessment for participation in rambling 
• Arranging club events for members
• Promotion of club activities
• Social activities for club members
• Fundraising
• Providing instruction, coaching, training, tuition and supervision to members
• Setting and ensuring adherence to club rules
• Arranging suitable times and locations for club activities
• Disciplining members who fail to adhere to club rules

Please note that club activities considered to be potentially hazardous are excluded from your cover, such as bonfires, firework displays or use of inflatables. You should contact Howden if you have any questions regarding your cover.

The policy includes social activities such as barbeques, quiz nights, seminars and talks organised by the club.

For fireworks and bonfire night, you should contact Howden for advice as an additional premium would be required.

Your policy provides your club with cover for recognised Rambling activities undertaken anywhere in the world, with the exception of United States and Canada.

There are no age restrictions in the policy.

Non-UK residents are not covered under the policy.

Yes. Unlike standard liability policies, it not only covers public liability (where you are liable for injury or property damage to others), but also includes:

• Professional Indemnity – Injury following advice (e.g. during navigation)
• Libel and Slander – Liability following something you might have said or written down, either in print or online
• Directors and Officers cover – as an incorporated entity, the committee or potentially the members are personally legally liable (with their own assets) in the event of negligent mismanagement of the club. Policy cover provides an indemnity up to £1m in the aggregate in respect of Directors and Officers cover.
• Abuse and safeguarding – Policy cover provides a contingency in the event of the club failing in its care of duty to protect children. Policy cover provides an indemnity up to £2.5m.

Claims occurred are claims for Public and Products liability or Employers Liability that will be covered if they occur within your policy period.

All other sections of the policy are written on a “claims made” basis, which means that the effective policy is the one in force at the time at which the incident is reported to insurers.

Once a policy is cancelled, no cover is provided for Professional indemnity, Libel and Slander, Abuse, or Directors and officers incidents, notified after the date of cancellation.

If you are aware of any incidents that should be reported to insurers, you should contact Howden on 0121 698 8050 immediately.

Make sure to keep your policy documents somewhere safe and do not throw them away.

All policies will have a retroactive date shown on the policy schedule. This means that any incident that occurred after your existing, the retroactive date will be subject to policy cover.
 

Member-to-member cover is provided automatically in the policy.

A constitution protects the committee in that it evidences the agreement between the members and the committee regarding powers to run the club. Without a written constitution, the management committee are exposing themselves to legal liability in acting outside of their powers, or even acting unfairly.
 

Employers’ Liability protects the employer in the event of an injury to an employee in circumstances where the employer is legally responsible. Public Liability protects the club member if another member or a member of the public, sues them for Injury or damage allegedly caused by them.
 

In the event of a claim, your limit of indemnity is the maximum your policy will pay. We frequently see policy payments in sport that exceed this amount. We would advise that £5m should be taken out as a minimum and recommend that you consider a higher limit.
 

Professional Indemnity provides cover in respect of claims that may arise if, as a member, you are legally liable for an incident that results in injury to another party, or damage to third party property. However, a standard Public Liability policy will have a specific exclusion in respect of advice given. To be safe therefore we include Professional Indemnity cover which specifically covers advice for all members.
 

Legal expenses are covered for the following:

• Legal expenses for defence of actions arising and qualifying under the Combined Liability policy
• Legal expenses for defence of criminal actions brought against you under the Health & Safety at Work and Consumer Protection legislation.
   

It is possible that comments made on your website or other communications digitally or in print could give rise to claims against you if they are taken by a Third Party to be defamatory or derogatory, even if there was no intention to do so. This section of cover will protect you if someone claims damages against you in such circumstances.

We advise that you report the incident to Howden immediately or as soon as is practical after the incident occurred.

If you are injured, you should seek legal advice on how to pursue a claim against the person responsible. You may also wish to consider purchasing an additional Personal Accident policy.
 

If a person is taking part in an official taster walk with a view to becoming a member of the club, the policy will provide indemnity to that person up to a maximum of 3 walks. A register of persons attending taster walks, the number of sessions they attend and their contact details should be maintained.

This does not cover situations where a relative or friend is visiting a member and decides to take part in a walk. In such instances, the individual is unlikely to be taking part with a view to becoming a member of the club and in consequence, no indemnity is provided to that person if they injure someone or damage third party property. If the person were injured as a result of an act of negligence by an insured person or walk leader and pursued a claim for their injury, then their claim would be dealt with as any other third party claim would be.
 

Under your club insurance club members are allowed to take dogs and assistance dogs on walks organised by the club, however they should remain under the control of the owner at all times. Dogs should be kept on a lead when in the vicinity of farm animals.

The Ramblers advice to members is as follows "We know that many people enjoy walking with their four-legged friends, so we encourage all our walking groups to allow dogs on walks. Some walks won't be suitable for dogs (for example when the route covers a particular type of terrain or young farm animals are present) and the ultimate decision on whether to allow dogs lies with the individual group or walk leader. Please therefore contact the individual walk leader or group to ask them whether they allow dogs on their walks. If you do take a dog, please keep it under close control and on a short lead, especially on farmland.

Assistance dogs are permitted, but we ask that you talk to the walk leader in advance to check that it’s safe for an assistance dog to come along on that particular walk."

A third party can include:

• Another walker (the policy includes member-to-member liability)
• A member of the public who isn’t in anyway related to the walk
• A landowner whose property or stock are damaged or injured
• A property owner whose premises are damaged during a meeting

Walk Leaders are encouraged to take a register of all attendees, as well as the names and contact details of any non-members. The main reason for this is that if a claim is made at a later date, it is important to be able to provide evidence that the person was on the walk in question.
 

Working parties involved with path maintenance are included under the club policy, providing they are not engaged in the major construction, maintenance and repair of complex footbridges, stiles or the like.

Guidance for best practice when the clubs or groups are undertaking working parties is available within the Ramblers Insurance Guidance documents page.

Recognised Path Maintenance would include:

• Vegetation clearance from the line of the path
• Vegetation clearance immediately to the side of the path where the rights are likely to be impeded by the growth of vegetation
• Stile building and repair
• Simple bridge construction as defined by the local authority
• Boardwalk construction and repair
• Simple work on steps, gates, path surface or drainage
• Erection of signposts and waymarks

Any other activities are excluded from the policy.

The relevant Local Authority or National Park Authority and Landowner should always be aware the work is taking place and correct permissions gained before work commences.

In addition, if the maintenance work involves the use of small power tools, it is essential that the members involved know how to use them. This includes:

• Brush cutters and clearing saws
• Strimmers
• Lawnmowers
• Power secateurs
• Hedge trimmers
• Hand held drills

Members or volunteers holding the appropriate qualification for use of chainsaws may do so and the appropriate protective clothing must be worn.

We recommend recces so that a walk leader can feel confident about the route they are going on and avoid risk when leading group walks.

A written risk assessment should be completed by the walk leader or another suitable official. It is accepted however that regular walks of the same route will be sufficiently covered if a generic risk assessment is produced. It is important to ensure that the risk assessment is adhered to and a register maintained.

No. The policy only covers those activities recognised by the Ramblers. Typically this is interpreted as general walking or rambling at both low and high level, but without the use of climbing equipment, ropes, traversing equipment, crampons or other like artificial aids.
 

The policy doesn’t carry a third party excess of any kind.
 

No, the duty of care is the same for members and guests alike. Everyone has a duty of care to their neighbour. The advantage of being a member, however, is that you receive individual indemnity.
 

No, the policy carries a very specific exclusion relating to motorised vehicles. Such cover is provided by a motor policy and the claim should be referred to the appropriate motor insurers.
 

The Statement of Fact is a generic document provided by insurers and we accept that not all statements will be relevant to you. Where they do not apply, you can ignore these. For example you may not own premises in connection with your activities and so the statement relating to this is not applicable. 

If you are neither instructing or coaching but I do neither, the statement of fact does not apply.

Yes, The Ramblers have insurance for members and volunteers. To find out more about this insurance, please visit Assemble or contact [email protected].