We were glued to the Chancellor’s speech on 3 March 2021 and were relieved to see that the rate of IPT remains unchanged, as demanded in our Manifesto, and which will help people and businesses be able buy the insurance they need to be resilient.
The Chancellor promised to help businesses out of the pandemic and his budget aims to deliver on that with several business support measures and skills development schemes.
During the last 12 months we have worked closely with Government in respect of several specific sectors that were most affected by Covid-19 and which form part of our Manifesto asks. We are delighted to see the solutions we helped form continue to provide support as the Film and TV Restart Scheme is extended to the end of December 2021 and Government intends to continue to monitor the Trade Credit Reinsurance Scheme to check whether further intervention is needed beyond 30 June 2021. Up to £190 billion of cover on businesses has been provided under the scheme so far preventing disaster for an estimated 155,000 business which would have been at risk. We have also asked to be kept informed if and when the current intervention on care homes and designated setting is reviewed.
Serious flooding has become a perennial problem, and we have worked with Government and other stakeholders to try and deliver insurance solutions alongside enhanced flood resilience. The Chancellor confirmed that the £5.2 bn flood and coastal defence programme for England announced in 2020 will start in April this year. Schemes will be created in several at risk areas around the country and construction is expected to begin in 2021-22. These schemes plan to better protect over 3,700 homes from flooding. Good news for homeowners and insurance providers. Read our Manifesto committments on flooding here.
We met with the team from HM Treasury shortly after the budget was delivered to run through points relevant to members. In that discussion we had confirmation that insurance brokers are eligible to apply for support in the Help to Grow Management and Help to Grow Digital initiatives as well as the Recovery Loan Scheme. We are seeking confirmation of brokers’ eligibility for other support including the restart and discretionary grants being made available to businesses.