Insurance Post writers are working on the features listed below.

You may contact the journalists directly to offer interviews and comments.

Please make sure they have all relevant material several days before the deadline.

Topic: With a rising number of claims for trampoline and soft play accidents how are insurers’ policies responding to this? 
Author: Rachel Gordon
Contact: [email protected] 
Deadline: 16 August 

2017 saw ambulances were called out to 1,181 incidents at trampoline parks across England. Jon Newall, broker at Lockyer Insurance, said an area where he's seen a few claims recently are for trampoline parks and even kids' soft play areas generally.
 
-          What health and safety risks do businesses need to consider (public liability, employers liability and products liability cover) when setting up soft play areas?
-          What safety checks are needed to prevent accidents occurring in the first place?
-          Which insurers are providing cover for this?
-          What risks are children exposed to at public trampoline parks?
-          A voluntary standard was published in 2017 but is there a need for regulation in the sector? Is there anything currently being done?
-          How are brokers and insurers dealing with risk management in these businesses?
-          Are any other leisure activities attracting these types of claims? 

Topic: How have insurers adapted overtime to risks associated with insuring disabled customers?
Author: Jen Frost
Contact: [email protected] 
Deadline: 27 August

In the past when it came to insuring a home or car insurance companies did not fully understand modifications/adaptations for disabled customers so were unable to insure them. How has this changed over time? 
Home insurance for homes that have been upgraded to accommodate wheelchairs for instance; travel insurance for people with disabilities; car insurance for vehicles that have been fixed to allow disabled drivers to drive.

- Travel insurance and policy wording – does the insurance cover loss of expensive medication for instance? Is it worth the customer getting a broker to check this? 
- Are claims not being paid due to customers filling out travel insurance forms correctly? Leaving out information may lower premiums, however insurance companies may not pay out in the event of a claim. 
- Do disabled customers know their rights? (For example, it’s illegal for a car insurance company to charge more because of a disability unless they can prove it’s justified, as highlighted in the Equality Act 2010)

Topic: How is the insurance industry responding to the spike in cancelled cover?
Author: Tim Evershed 
Contact: [email protected]
Deadline: 30 August

Recent research commissioned by Premium Credit reveals over a third of UK businesses have cancelled one or more insurance policies, including compulsory insurance such as Employers’ Liability, over the past three years with the numbers still rising due to no longer being able to afford them. The research blamed a combination of falling incomes and rising premiums for the spike in cancellations.

- What is behind the rise in cancellations?
- Which products are most commonly being cancelled?
- Are any business sectors or regions more affected than others?
- Can insurers identify areas of underinsurance both by geography and line of business?
- What needs to be done to tackle the issue?
- Whose responsibility is it to educate the customer about the importance of insurance?
- Would insurers and brokers like to see a public campaign?

Topic: Climate Change – What can the insurance industry do to help stem global warming?
Author: David Worsfold
Contact: [email protected] 
Deadline: 20 August

In this article Post will look at where insurers stand vis-à-vis the insurance of – and investment in – business that are not deemed low carbon, or contributors to climate change; and how this is evolving.

It will shine a spotlight on what the insurance industry can do to in terms of new products and services to assist the developing world so that it can meet its energy needs, whilst supporting infrastructure that does not contribute to the problem; as well as what is being done industry wide through initiatives like Climate Wise or others facilitated by the Government/the regulator.

To the latter objective, July also saw the publication of the Green Finance Strategy with the ABI publicly supporting the proposed Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure, an industry-developed framework to provide consistent information to financial markets about the exposure of individual firms to climate risk.

Finally, the article will focus on the reputational issues at stake for insurers for failing to be transparent in their environmental responsibilities, and what the sector can do next to help reduce climate change.

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