Winter is approaching. Is your business prepared for what comes with it?

3 days ago

2 min read

After a summer of drought, heat and wildfires, the UK is now being warned to expect a harsh start to winter.

If your business was forced to close tomorrow because of severe weather, how long could you realistically keep operating?

The Met Office's latest three-month outlook indicates an increased likelihood of wetter, windier and milder conditions through October to December, while the Environment Agency has warned that millions of properties in England are at risk of flooding.

Five questions to ask before winter

Before the worst of the winter weather arrives, businesses should consider:

1. Do we understand the flood and storm exposure of our premises?

2. Are our buildings, contents, stock and equipment insured for realistic replacement values?

3. Would our business interruption cover give us enough time to recover?

4. Are our suppliers and other dependencies creating additional exposure?

5. Have we reviewed our insurance since the business last changed?

If you can't confidently answer all five, it may be time to have a conversation.

Insurance should be reviewed before you need it

The worst time to discover a gap in your insurance programme is after an incident has happened.

With the UK heading into a potentially wetter and windier period, now is a sensible time for businesses to review the resilience of their insurance arrangements.

At Vista NW, we help businesses across Chester, Cheshire, North Wales, Merseyside and the wider North West review their commercial insurance and understand where potential gaps or exposures may exist. Our corporate insurance offering includes property and business interruption, liability, motor fleet, cyber, management liability and specialist covers.

If you're unsure whether your current insurance would stand up to a major disruption, speak to Vista NW before you need to find out.

Could your declared values be out of date?

Severe weather can expose another issue that businesses don't always consider until they make a claim:

underinsurance.

If your building, machinery, stock or equipment would cost considerably more to replace than the values declared on your policy, the financial consequences could be significant.

It's therefore worth asking:

When were your property values last reviewed?
Have construction and labour costs changed?
Has your machinery or equipment increased in value?
Has your stock level increased?
Have you expanded your premises?
Has your turnover changed?
Would your business interruption calculation still reflect today's business?

These are particularly important questions for manufacturers, engineering businesses, construction companies, property owners, hospitality operators and other businesses with significant physical assets.

Call 01244 662025 or email info@vnwl.co.uk to arrange a no-obligation review.