In an astounding turn-around, today the government announced action to protect music festivals and live event organisers. They have allocated a £750 million budget to be used within an event insurance scheme to cover the cancellation of live music events. The government has stated the intention of the scheme is to help event organisers plan with confidence through to next year.
The live events sector is worth more than £70 billion annually to the economy and supports more than 700,000 jobs, including small businesses and the self-employed. This new government event insurance scheme will support live events across the UK that are open to the general public – covering businesses and individuals.
What’s clear is that the insurance policy will only cover costs incurred in the event of a cancellation. This cancellation must be legally unable to happen due to government COVID restrictions. Cancellation cover for COVID related issues was previously unavailable, however after this policy becomes available, event organisers will be able to purchase cover for the risk of another national lockdown.
As with any government scheme, there are an abundant amount of complications and stipulations. So at Insure our Event we’ve put together some Need To Know points around the new event insurance scheme.
What You Need To Know About The event Insurance Scheme:
- The scheme will be available from September 2021 and run until the end of September 2022.
- The £750 million will fund a partnership between the government and Lloyd’s of London. The government acting as a reinsurer, guaranteeing policies for live events.
- The scheme only covers the costs of cancellations due to the event not being legally able to happen due to government restrictions.
- Event organisers will be able to purchase cover that is government-assured.
- The full details of the cover are still unclear. More details are to follow.
This move comes as more than half of all music festivals have been cancelled this summer. But with a sufficiently high proportion of the population vaccinated, the country should be allowed to live with COVID-19 without limitations or stipulations on movement and action.
Reaction to the government event insurance scheme
Many were happy to see this reinsurance fund announced:
Director of Insure Our Event, Victoria Romero-Trigo said: “Today’s announcement is a fantastic glimmer of hope to the events industry which so desperately needs some good news. This could be turning the point that sees events come back in full force which the industry needs so badly. It’s important to remember though, that the devil will be in the detail and whilst good news this likely won’t be a silver bullet for events, and we’ll be closely examining the policy as more information is released.“
“The inability to obtain insurance has already caused many cancellations this summer. There were fears that without action we would have seen major cancellations continuing well into next year too. [The scheme is] incredibly welcome news” for both music fans and the staff involved in live event production.
– Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, the chief executive of UK Music.
This fund is definitely a step in the right direction for the events industry’s recovery. Insure Our Event from September 2021 should be able to provide event organisers, businesses and individuals, with government-backed event cancellation cover.
To arrange cover from us or find out more, click the links below.
