BEWARE THE HARD INSURANCE MARKET by Marc Kirker
Director, Spencer Hayes Group
The insurance marketplace works in cycles, varying between levels of soft and hard markets.
Unfortunately, the insurance sector has entered a ‘hard time that many companies have experienced these conditions.
What is a hard market?
The signs have been coming for the past year or two, with insurers demonstrating a lack of appetite for writing cases, but now we are most certainly trading in a hard market. This means that most insurers are looking for premium increases, imposing stricter terms or declining risks.
Quotation turnaround times with risks needing further consideration. With premiums increasing insurers are seeing far more cases in an attempt to secure improved terms or where the existing markets are declining to quote at renewal.
What has caused the hard market?
It’s caused by multiple factors such as large catastrophes such as storms Ciara and Dennis and Grenfell Tower, and low savings returns. Coronavirus certainly hasn’t helped, but this list isn’t exhaustive.
down then it tends to lead to a hard market.
What should I do?
Do not panic, but start the process early and look to engage with an experienced alternative broker. But not too many, as this will prove counterproductive, commonly
Engaging with an experienced broker with a larger emphasis on risk management can help make your ‘risk’ more attractive to an insurer.
Here at Spencer Hayes Group we are both. Our staff have decades of experience, and can also assist with risk management programmes; anything from health and safety to business continuity planning.
PREVENTING TAX EVASION PENALTIES
by Andrew Robinson Director, STS (Europe)
The Corporate Criminal Offence was introduced by HM Revenue and Customs in the Criminal Finance Act 2017, having effect from 30 September 2017.
The legislation is designed to hold relevant entities to account where they fail to adopt appropriate procedures to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.
It applies to all relevant entities, both companies and partnerships, regardless of their size. Under the legislation, there were two offences introduced, a domestic offence and a foreign offence. The scope of this legislation encompasses any tax and any jurisdiction with a similar tax offence for tax evasion.
For an offence to occur three stages must have taken place;
Stage 1 - Evasion of tax by a taxpayer.
Stage 2 - The facilitation of tax by an employee or associated person of the relevant body.
Stage 3 - The relevant body has failed to put appropriate policies and procedures in place to help prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.
The CCO was introduced in 2017, enabling HMRC to seek the conviction of the relevant body, be that a company or partnership, as a legal entity. The penalties for falling foul of the legislation include unlimited the offence to a professional regulator and a public record of the conviction.
It is therefore important for relevant bodies to put in place preventative measures. Policies, risk-assessments, due diligence and the training of staff on the legislation are all principles mentioned in HMRC’s guidance.
It is important that all relevant bodies review their responsibilities under this legislation to ensure that they have a defence in place.
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Expect the unexpected
Contact us to discover how our partnership can make your business more resilient against loss.
Website
www.spencerhayesgroup.co.uk
Phone 0161 711 0304
Email
enquiries@spencerhayesgroup.co.uk
67
BUSINESS INSURANCE
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