It looks like our competitors in Arborist Insurance feature in this list. https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insurer/3327406/fos-reveals-top-five-most-complained-about-insurers?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IA.Daily_RL.EU.A.U&utm_source=IA.DCM.Editors_Updates

Hi guys. This year, we’ve seen a large increase in the amount of thefts happening. This month alone we’ve had 4 claims for stolen chippers. Be vigilant, because two of the four chippers were stolen whilst on site.

Hi guys. Due to adverse weather conditions, we’ve closed the office for the day. We may still be answer questions via emails and it’ll be back to normal on Monday.

For today’s businesses, protecting data and digital assets with cyber security is as essential as locking the office doors at night to protect physical property.

Now the government has announced that firms could face fines of up to £17 million, or 4% of their global turnover, if they fail to protect themselves from cyber attacks from the 25^th May 2018.

Potential losses in the event of a cyber attack are huge, with unsecured businesses not just risking the safety of their own bank accounts and documents, but potentially gambling with the data, bank details and digital property of clients, partners and customers.

In this case, the cyber security crackdown is particularly aimed at essential service providers, such as water, energy, transport and health firms, the cyber hacking of which could cause huge societal disruption.

Digital Minister Matt Hancock said fines would be a last resort.

“We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to live and be online, with our essential services and infrastructure prepared for the increasing risk of cyber-attack,” he said.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said fines would not apply to firms which have safeguards in place but still suffer an attack.

Companies will need to show they have a strategy to cover power failures and environmental disasters. The DCMS said firms that take cyber-security seriously should already have measures in place to prevent attacks or system failures.

The move comes as the government decides how to implement the Network and Information Systems (NIS) directive, which becomes law across the EU next May and is aimed at protecting services.

Earlier this year, a government survey found that nearly half (46%) of British businesses discovered at least one cyber-security breach or attack in the past year, most often involving fraudulent emails being sent to staff or security issues relating to viruses, spyware or malware.

If you have any concerns about your cyber security, or want to know whether your business would be protected in the event of an attack, simply give us a call today.

Published by Geoffrey Parrish

It’s important to be familiar with your legal duties towards those you employ. We take a look at how this covers the right to work in the UK.

If you’re an employer in the UK, it’s your legal duty to prevent illegal working, regardless of the number of employees you employ. The ramifications of not checking employees’ right to work can be costly and damaging.

The law on preventing illegal working is part of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The Government has since introduced a statutory code and amended the legislation to strengthen the civil penalties that you as an employer may be liable to.

The legal duty that an employer must follow begins before an individual is recruited. Any employer who employs someone they know or has reasonable cause to believe has no right to work in the UK is committing an offence. The civil penalty can be up to £20,000 per illegal worker and in some circumstances, a prison sentence of up to 5 years.

So what do you need to do as an employer to protect yourself?

As part of your recruitment process, it’s your responsibility to ask the individual to provide documentary evidence of their right to work in the UK. The Home Office has published a list of acceptable documents in ‘An employer’s guide to right to work checks’. This guidance also provides tips on how to conduct these ‘right to work’ checks correctly. The document the individual needs to provide may be as straight forward as a valid passport.

What steps do I need to take?

You should check the original document(s) in the presence of the holder, make and retain a clear copy and make a record of the date of the check. The Home Office have a check list that can be completed with each of these steps. This process then forms a ‘statutory excuse’, which may help your defence if a worker is found to be illegal.

If the employee’s right to work in the UK is time limited, you must repeat the checks in line with the guidance.

Which employees should I check?

Checks should be conducted for all new employees and you should not make any assumptions about an individual’s background or work status. There may be different rules that apply to existing employees who started before May 2014. In these circumstances, it’s best to seek advice. It’s worth noting that if you have employed the individual through a third party recruiter or if you have new employees as a result of a TUPE transfer from another business – you must still complete the required checks.

If in doubt always seek advice or clarification from the Home Office.

Published by Geoffrey Parrish

Reinsurance firm Swiss Re estimates insurance claims following hurricanes, earthquakes and natural disasters make 2017 one of the most expensive years on record.

The old adage ‘one thing after another’ has rarely seemed truer than in 2017, with the relief efforts to help victims of one storm, hurricane, flood or earthquake barely under way before another part of the world is hit by a natural disaster.

In August, Hurricane Harvey caused 80 deaths and tremendous flood damage across the state of Texas. Hurricane Irma ripped across the Caribbean and Florida in September, while Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Also in September, two earthquakes hit Mexico, causing at least 90 deaths.

Swiss Re, one of the world’s biggest reinsurance firms, has estimated that total damage from these events will cost the global insurance industry $95bn (£72bn).
Meanwhile, insurer Hiscox claims 2017 will be one of the worst years for insurance claims relating to natural disasters.

Christian Mumenthaler, Swiss Re’s chief executive, said: “The most recent natural catastrophes have been extremely powerful and we extend our sympathies to all those affected by these events.”

The reinsurance company, which helps support insurance companies facing high volumes of claims, did warn that the estimates may be adjusted and are “subject to a higher than usual degree of uncertainty”.

Of course these costs related to personal and business insurance claims, but the human, environmental and societal cost is even greater. The economic cost, which includes damage not covered by insurance policies, such as damage to crops, business and financial markets, has been estimated to reach $300bn.

Published by Geoffrey Parrish

Dear Clients,

We hope by now those people that have employers liability insurance held with us for Tree surgery or forestry contracting have received there “drop zone” poster

We decided to arrange this due to the nature of injuries we are seeing on a regular basis involving ground crew when working under the canopy of a tree surgeon.

We are of course there to pay for the injured party however it is the effect we have seen on the families involved that no monetary payment can repay! With this in mind we do hope that it will make the ground crew think before entering the drop zone as ultimately it is them that end up hurt.

We have experience of life changing injuries to our clients ground crew, so we hope this will remind them of the dangers

Please stay safe!

Below is a link to the poster should you want to hand it out to staff as a flyer

A2 Poster

Published by Geoffrey Parrish

We have specialized in arboricultural/tree surgery/forestry insurance for the last 20 years, and have come across many types of ‘special vehicles’ or modified vehicles used in connection with clients businesses.
From cars, to van, tippers, Cherryickers, tractors, forwarders, telehandlers there has never been a shortage of variety of agricultural vehicles we haven’t seen.

However, there is one in particular that always seems to stand out. The Unimog!

The Unimog is a range of multi-purpose all-wheel drive medium truck produced by Daimler and sold under the brand name Mercedes-Benz.

The first model was designed shortly after World War II to be used in agriculture as a self-propelled machine providing a power take-off (PTO) to operate saws in forests or harvesting machines on fields. Due to their off-road capabilities, Unimog’s can be found in Europe, they are commonly used as snow ploughs, municipal equipment carriers, agricultural implements, forest ranger vehicles, construction equipment or road-rail vehicles. It was designed with permanent all-wheel drive, with equal-size wheels, in order to be driven on roads at higher speeds than standard farm tractors.

It is this similarity with tractors that has led many people over the years to register them as ‘agricultural vehicles’ with the DVLA, and insure them as Tractors under the incorrect tax classification and often the wrong policy. It is only the MB Trac that can be considered a tractor in this respect.

It is essential to point this out to our clients, or anyone purchasing a Unimog that there is not a one size fits all insurance for these types of vehicles. ‘The Use’ of the vehicle is as important as the vehicle type itself in determining the right insurance, and the correct registration with the DVLA. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/408247/Information_Sheet_Unimogs.pdf
Even the DVLA and www.gov.uk advice for Unimog’s states “In principle a Unimog by default would be classed as a truck, a vehicle that carries goods” and means it should be classed as a Commercial Vehicle over 7.5tonnes.
This is crucial as it also means a Cat C or Operators Licence should be in force to operate them!

Agricultural engines used for Agricultural Use

However, it is possible to classify the Unimog as an Agricultural vehicle (i.e. a tractor), if it is only used for agricultural purposes. Under this classification it has lower tax but is limited to lower speeds and cannot go on motorways. It is only acceptable if used solely as an agricultural in the woodland or 1.5km (1 mile radius) of the farmland or base of operation.
It has come to our attention that many of our customers were not aware of these restrictions, and as an independent intermediary and specialist in your industry we thought it necessary to clarify.

Agricultural engines are restricted to purpose-built vehicles that:

• are designed and used solely for agriculture, horticulture or forestry work
• are used on public roads only for going to and from a place of work.
• if used on a public road, do not carry any load except such as is necessary for its propulsion or for the operation of any machinery built-in or permanently attached to the vehicle

Agricultural processing vehicles

• are used for the movement of built-in machinery – for processing agricultural, horticultural or forestry produce – used while the vehicle is stationary
• are used on public roads only for going to and from one place of work
• if used on a public road, do not carry any load except such as is necessary for its propulsion or for the operation of the processing machinery

Vehicles used between different parts of the land

An agricultural vehicle can be used on more than one piece of land if it:
• is used only for agriculture, horticulture or forestry work (i.e. 100% not used as a commercial vehicle or outside the radius for tractors)
• is used on public roads only when passing between different areas of land occupied by the same person
• Does not travel further than 1.5 kilometers on a public road when passing between two such areas and has a nil licence in force in respect.

In Summary: Points to note

– If the Unimog in question is being used to travel further than 1.5km, then it should be classed as a commercial vehicle.
– If the vehicle is not used 100% for forestry use, then it should be insured as a Truck.
– If it is used for more than one location, travelling to multiple places of business & not just a single woodland or contract, then it should not be registered or insured as an agricultural, but instead as a HGV commercial vehicle.

Published by Matthew Fenton

It has today been announced by EY that the net combined loss ratio for 2016 business is 109%. This basically means that for every pound insurers received in motor premium they paid out £1.09

As you can imagine this is not a sustainable business model so I can therefore see insurers looking to increase premium as they have been since the beginning of 2017

We accept some premiums may need to increase due to poor loss ratio however working with our partner insurers we will certainly be negotiating on our client’s behalf to minimize any premium increases

Unfortunately any increases will be compounded by the increase in insurance premium taxation from June 2017

If you have found that your motor premium has increased please call us on 01604 492644 and ask for Matthew or Jason who will be able to offer you terms from our panel of insurers

We’re picking up quite a few claims when Ford Transits are being broken into and there is no sign of forced entry. We can only assume that this a result of the Skeleton Keys that are easily available from sites such as Amazon (for as little as £20!). It’s madness really that this such items can be available to the general public and we can only recommend that Ford Transits owners be extra vigilant and consider increasing the security on those vehicles.

Here’s a video of how easy those £20 keys can get in to a Ford Transit:

Published by Rudi McIlravie