The live events sector is set to get a boost with a world-leading government-backed insurance scheme worth over £750 million, which will help them plan events with confidence through to next year.
The government has partnered with Lloyd’s to deliver the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme as part of the Plan for Jobs. The scheme will see the government act as a ‘reinsurer’, stepping in with a guarantee to make sure insurers can offer the products events companies need.
As the economy reopens with the lifting of Covid restrictions, getting the right kind of insurance has proven difficult for the events industry. This scheme will support live events across the UK that are open to the general public such as music festivals and business events. It will cover costs incurred in the event of cancellation due to the event being legally unable to happen due to Government Covid restrictions.
A number of prominent insurers in the Lloyd’s market, including Arch, Beazley, Dale, Hiscox and Munich Re are supporting the scheme which will provide events companies with the option of purchasing cover from next month, alongside standard commercial events insurance, giving them the reassurance they need to plan ahead while also ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
This is one of the only insurance schemes in the world to cover such a wide array of live events and not put a cap on costs claimed per event. The scheme will be delivered through insurers with events organisers able to purchase cover for government-enforced cancellation due to the event being legally unable to happen due to Government Covid restrictions, alongside their standard insurance.
The scheme will be available from September 2021 and run until the end of September 2022.
The live events sector is worth more than £70 billion annually to the economy and supports more than 700,000 jobs, including small businesses and the self-employed.
This scheme comes on top of the extensive support already given to the cultural sector, including the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF), and the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart scheme – which has seen 610 independent film and TV productions and more than 50,000 screen sector jobs supported by the scheme in the last 12 months.
More than £1 billion in support has also been provided to the sport and leisure sectors, including a £600 million survival package for a range of spectator sports severely impacted by coronavirus restrictions. It is the most generous bespoke support from any Government for its domestic sport sector in the world.
While the pandemic is not over, a sufficiently high proportion of the population vaccinated and the country can learn to live with Covid-19 without the need for the strict economic and social restrictions.
