Events industry boost
9 August 2021
The Government has announced some welcome assistance for the events industry, which will obviously help hirers serving this market.
As the economy reopens with the lifting of Covid restrictions, getting the right kind of insurance is acting as a barrier for some events organisers.
The government has partnered with Lloyd’s of London to deliver the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, worth more than £750 million, as part of its Plan for Jobs programme in the wake of the pandemic.
The scheme will support live events across the UK that are open to the general public, such as music festivals and business events. It will cover costs incurred in the case of government-enforced cancellation due to Covid restrictions.
The government will act as a ‘reinsurer’, stepping in with a guarantee to give insurers confidence to offer the cancellation cover required to organisers, alongside their standard insurance.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak said: “The events sector supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, and I know organisers are raring to go now that restrictions have been lifted. But the lack of the right kind of insurance is proving a problem, so as the economy reopens I want to do everything I can to help events providers and small businesses plan with confidence right through to next year.”
The scheme will be available from September 2021 and run until the end of September 2022.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music said: “For months, UK Music has been warning about the catastrophic impact of the market failure in insurance for live events. The inability to obtain insurance has already caused many cancellations this summer – these have been devastating for the entire music industry and there were fears that without action we would have seen major cancellations continuing well into next year too.”
The CEO of the Events Industry Alliance, Chris Skeith, commented: “The exhibitions sector has been significantly impacted during the pandemic with forced cancellations due to government and local authority restrictions. While we understand the necessary public health restrictions that have been in place, the impact on the sector has been devastating.”
Mr Skeith added: “This government-backed insurance scheme will bring some much needed confidence to a sector, and its supply chain, which often acts as the UK’s shop window to the world.”
Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, the organisers of Southampton International Boat Show commented: “Although this new cover is welcome, it does come at a significant premium, which, for many small businesses like ours, which have endured extreme financial challenges during the pandemic, will impact heavily on our ability to generate surpluses that in our case are reinvested entirely in our industry.
“With the successful rollout of the Covid vaccination scheme in the UK, we hope that this insurance scheme is only ever an unused safety net for the events industry.”
Photo: Wendy Wei/Pexels
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