Independent schools
Protection and wellbeing services built around your school, plus individual pupil cover for fee payers
Your school's insurance and risk partner
We understand that no two independent schools are the same. That’s why we’ll take the time to get to know yours – from its learning style to its culture – before creating an insurance and risk package, and wellbeing services, to match.
Our education team has been safeguarding schools for decades. Today, we work closely with independent schools to provide commercial cover for a wide range of exposures, and a choice of pupil cover for fee payers. Expert risk support, including physical site audits, is also on hand to help make your school the safe learning environment you need it to be.
Pupils’ insurance
Through our online insurance portal, parents or guardians can take out insurance to protect their children. They can opt in and out of cover, with options that include:
School fees insurance
If a parent dies or is diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness, this covers their child’s fees. It’s difficult to think about, but it happens every day. The charity Child Bereavement UK estimates that in the UK, as many as one parent of a dependent child dies every 20 minutes.
The school is paid a fixed amount direct (outside of estate administration), so the child can continue their education until they reach 18 or leave school.
Pupils’ personal accident insurance
This provides protection for pupils if they are seriously injured, develop a permanent disability, or die, through sport or other school activities. Parents can choose from three levels, with cover amounts from £100,000 to £1m, and dental cover included across the board.
Pupil absence insurance
If a student is out of school for an extended period due to ill-health or injury, this lets fee payers claim the fees back from the insurer for the missed period of term. This means financial security for your school and parents.
Personal possessions insurance
This insures against damage, loss, and theft of students’ belongings. It can include laptops, bicycles, musical instruments, sports and art equipment, and may be especially useful for boarders.
Want to know more? Download our brochure.
Easy policy management
Our online portal makes it a breeze for parents and independent schools to manage their insurance online.
✓ Let fee payers opt in and out of cover, update and see policy details, and make claims.
✓ Manage admin tasks like collating applications and completing spreadsheets.
✓ Earn revenue if parents buy optional cover through this platform.
✓ Access the shared portal via desktop or mobile, 24/7.
We're also passionate about supporting parents and guardians to guide their child through the challenges that can come with growing up. That's why, through the Howden Parent Portal, they can call a confidential parent-guardian 24/7 helpline. This lets them connect with qualified counsellors with specialist knowledge of young people’s wellbeing, day or night.
Pupil wellbeing services
We know that mental health support resources for pupils can be hard to access. That’s why we’ve developed a pupil assistance programme with independent health and wellbeing specialist, Health Assured.
It provides young people aged 11 to 18 years and their parents, guardians, pastoral staff, and teachers with access to wellbeing support and guidance on mental health issues. Wellbeing packages are modular to suit your school, and can include:
- Mental health clinical support for pupils aged 11 to 18
- 24/7 counselling helpline for pupils aged 16 to 18
- 24/7 caregiver helpline for teachers, pastoral staff, parents, and guardians
- Certified youth mental health first-aid training for those who work with, or support young people
- Digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) platform for caregivers and pupils
Learn more about our Pupil Assistance Programme.
Commitment to your staff
Attracting and keeping talent can be a challenge for any business, and schools are no different. Our employee benefits can help show you are committed to helping staff look after their financial, mental, and physical wellbeing. From our employee assistance programme to life assurance, choose the benefits that suit your school, staff, and budget.
When a young person feels empowered to speak up, there’s someone they can talk to who can support them with whatever they need.
Risk management support for schools
Keeping pupils and staff safe and managing a school’s complex risks can be daunting and time-consuming. Our expert team is ready to help you manage your risks in compliance with the relevant legislation. This can include acting annually as one of your competent persons.
We can help enhance and continually improve your safety management systems through:
- Risk consultancy surveys, including an overall ‘health check’, health and safety audit, fire risk assessment, and physical security audit.
- Policy document creation, including health and safety, fire, and security risk assessment documents.
- Online compliance tool to manage your estates and assets, statutory reporting, and staff training. Also includes a contractor area so you can track external suppliers.
Along with making your school a safe, compliant space, having a robust, formalised risk strategy can help prevent situations that lead to insurance claims. It could also help reduce your insurance premiums.
Learn more about our risk management services.
What can we do to support young people's mental health?
In this webinar, our panel offers expert insights into the most pressing concerns for young people's mental health. They also look at your duties to staff and pupils, and the benefits of taking a holistic approach to school wellbeing.
Independent schools insurance FAQs
This could range from employers’ liability (a legal requirement) and motor insurance for your minibuses, to cyber cover and professional indemnity. You may also want to provide parents and fee payers with an easy way to buy optional pupils’ insurance, such as cover for pupils’ belongings.
There is a lot of choice, so the best way to decide which insurance you need is to work closely with an independent broker. We can help advise you on the risks you need to consider, and which insurance can help mitigate these, with your school’s budget in mind.
Pupils’ insurance, such as cover for school fees, personal possessions, and injury, offers parents the reassurance that if the unexpected happens they are financially protected.
Using our portal designed specifically for independent schools and fee payers, parents can easily opt in and out of a range of cover for their children. What’s more, schools can earn revenue when parents buy optional insurance through the portal.
If a child’s school fees rely on one parent’s income, school fees insurance could be worth considering. This means if they (or their spouse) dies or is diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness, their child can continue their education uninterrupted.
Parents invest a lot in their child’s education. The average boarding school fee in the UK is £14,153 a term, according to the 2024 Independent Schools Council survey (with boarding school day fees averaging at £7,975 a term). For a small amount each month, you’ll know that future school fees will be covered if the worst happens.
Students’ personal possessions aren’t usually covered by the school’s contents insurance, which typically only protects the school’s belongings. So if pupils’ personal belongings are lost, damaged or stolen, schools are not usually liable.
Parents and fee payers can instead take out personal possessions insurance. This covers pupils’ property such as laptops, phones, jewellery, bikes, and musical instruments.
A school’s travel insurance policy may include lost, stolen, or damaged personal items on a school trip, but there may be restrictions on what’s covered. If in doubt, check the school’s policy documents, or ask your broker or insurer.
Our health and safety audit gives you a baseline of where your risk management stands. We’ll visit your school and cover:
- Health and safety management such as policies, training, and risk assessments.
- Premises and grounds statutory duties.
- Domestic and boarding premises (if applicable).
- Landscaping and maintenance (including plant and equipment).
- Subject-specific areas, such as art and design, design and technology, educational visits, food technology, medical, early years, physical education, and science.