The Insurance Act 2015

Disclosure of material facts

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out an insurance policy, throughout the life of the policy and when you renew your insurance. It is important that all statements you make on a proposal and claim forms and other documents are full and accurate. Failure to disclose any material information could invalidate your insurance cover and mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid. This includes incidents/losses that have arisen during the year that have been settled without involving insurers. A material fact could include changes to business activity, criminal convictions or any financial issues such as potential bankruptcies or CCJ’s. If you are unsure as to whether a fact is material, it should be disclosed. If in doubt, call us.

 

Duty of Fair Presentation

It is your statutory duty before entering into a contract of insurance, prior to an alteration and at renewal to make a fair presentation of the risk to be insured and to ensure that information is provided in a clear and accessible format. The duty of fair presentation requires you to provide details of your business which involves ensuring you have undertaken a “reasonable” search. This includes providing knowledge of all your senior management team and information held by Third Parties such as accountants, this would include any material information that would affect the judgment of an insurer or enable them to request additional information before taking on the risk.

 

Before entering into a contract of insurance, prior to a mid-term alteration and ahead of your policy renewal, it is your statutory duty to make a fair presentation of the risk. This information must be provided in a clear and accessible format. You must disclose, where practical, all material circumstances about the risk, this being information that might affect the judgment of a prudent insurer in deciding whether to accept the risk or not -  should you require additional explanation of what constitutes a material circumstance, please contact us immediately. You must make reasonable enquiries before presenting the risk and ensure that all individuals holding knowledge about the risk have been approached in the compilation of this information. If you feel they have not been able to do so, please advise us so we can allow underwriters to make further enquiries if they wish to do so. You must complete any proposal forms or fact finds provided, honestly, accurately and in good faith. Any deliberate or reckless misrepresentation may involve part or the entire claim being declined and in some circumstances; the Insurer may be entitled to retain the premium whilst avoiding the policy or apply additional terms to the policy. 

 

The Insurance Act 2015 and the duty of fair presentation exists to enable Insurers to provide you with a fair outcome at the point of a claim giving them additional remedies to deal with a claim. Failure to present a fair presentation of the risk could result in the Insurers avoiding part or all of your claim and in some circumstances entitle the Insurer to retain any premiums paid.

 

Warranties and Other Terms

Any warranties, conditions, clauses, exceptions and policy limitations must be complied with. Breach of these may affect a claim made by you and/or your policy cover. 

 

Please pay particular attention to any warranty, clause or condition relating to premium payment terms within the policy.