Unveiling of a new type of insurance clause for fire safety

The International Underwriting Association (IUA) has released a new fire safety model insurance clause that can be used in projects funded by the government’s Building Safety Fund.

Chris Jones, the director of legal and market services for the IUA, said, “Our new model clause lays out a number of key risk management steps that will make sure the work is done according to industry standards.” “This will make it easier to hold people accountable for safety measures and encourage people to put money into good construction.

“The market for infrastructure insurance for professional indemnity has been tough in recent years. This is because of worries that old liabilities could turn into new claims in the future because of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Each new risk must still be evaluated on its own, but the clause should give underwriters more confidence that they can offer good insurance solutions for future work.

The IUA and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities worked together to come up with the words. Underwriters who want to offer professional indemnity insurance for building cladding requirement for maintaining can get the Building Safety Fund Cladding and Fire Safety Limited Exclusion and Aggregation Clause from the IUA website for free.

Greg Clarke, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said, “Our top priority is to make sure people’s homes are safe and that safety standards are high. Along with our new strict set of rules, this new clause that was made with my department will help us do exactly that.

“We appreciate the work of the IUA and the underwriters who are taking a balanced approach to fire safety cover, and I thank insurers in advance for using it.”

The £4.5 billion Building Safety Fund was set up to pay for work to fix the cladding on high-rise residential buildings that are over 18m.