Which business Insurance is right for you?

Made in Sheffield and ECS Insurance Brokers

Made in Sheffield have launched a new initiative to give you more exclusive benefits.

Sheffield’s long established insurance broker ECS has been selected to negotiate Made in Sheffield group discounts for you. We will provide a bespoke, quality backed business insurance service designed to recognise your own dedication to quality and give you the benefits of our combined MIS brand strength.

• Highly Competitive
• Health & Safety Healthcheck
• NoGimmicks -simply genuine long term benefits
• Risk Management Initiatives
• Sheffield’s only Chartered Insurance Brokers – Trusted Partners to Made in Sheffield

Please contact ECS direct now to register your interest - Click here to email Ben Atha or telephone on 0114 280 2830

Charles Turner, Chairman – Made In Sheffield

“With first hand experience I’m extremely confident in ECS Insurance Brokers’ abilities, competence and pedigree. They are the only broker in Sheffield to be Chartered Brokers”

“The more Made in Sheffield companies that get involved, the greater the benefits will be for us all.”

Andrew Liversidge, Managing Director – Tool & Steel Products Ltd

“I was delighted to pilot this initiative and saved over 15% on my insurance costs which to us is worth thousands. ECS have provided exemplary service and advice from the start and helped us make the most of being Made in Sheffield.”

“I’d certainly recommend this product and it can only be a positive for Made in Sheffield”

Fraudulent insurance claims are on the increase : And so are insurance premiums

Insurers are detecting more fraudulent claims than ever: over 2,500 worth £18 million every week

A gymnast with back trouble, a flying toilet roll holder, an invented wedding engagement, a fake photograph and an invisible wall were among the record number of fraudulent insurance claims detected by insurers in 2010 according to figures released today by the ABI.

The figures highlight that in 2010:

• Insurers uncovered 133,000 fraudulent insurance claims – 2,500 every week – up 9% on 2009. The value of these claims was £919 million, also up 9% on the previous year. Over the last five years both the number and overall value of insurance frauds detected have risen by over 100%.

• The most common frauds involved home insurance with 66,000 bogus or exaggerated claims detected, followed by dishonest motor insurance frauds with 40,000 frauds uncovered. Motor frauds were the most costly, totalling £466 million.

• The value of savings from detected frauds represented 5% of all claims, compared to 4% on 2009

Cheats uncovered by insurers include:

• A claim for back injuries apparently sustained from a fall while working in a nightclub was rejected when Facebook images showed the claimant performing gymnastics, and training for a charity run.

• A woman’s claim for facial injuries she said resulted from a falling toilet roll holder in a fast food outlet was rejected when it was shown that the holder would have had to have fallen upwards to cause the injury claimed.

• A man claimed for a ‘lost’ engagement ring. His ex partner said that she was never given a ring as they had never been engaged. On the same day the man said he had suddenly found the ring.

• A claim by a woman for the loss of a £2,000 watch after a night out was rejected when the photograph she provided of her allegedly wearing the watch turned out to be that of a friend.

• A claim for injury said to be caused by falling over a wall was rejected when it was proved that there was no wall at the scene of the alleged incident.

It is estimated that insurance fraud costs £2billion a year, adding, on average, an extra £44 a year to the insurance bill for every UK policyholder.

Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health, said: “Insurers are working harder than ever to protect honest customers against fraud. The savings made by weeding out fraudulent claims would otherwise end up being paid for by honest policyholders through higher premiums.

“Fraudsters continually look for new ways to con insurers, so we are upping our game. Early next year we will be setting up a national Insurance Fraud Register, which will contain details of all known insurance cheats. And at the same time the first ever national police insurance fraud investigation unit will begin its operations, making it harder than ever to commit insurance fraud.”

Glen Marr, Director, Insurance Fraud Bureau comments: “Fraudsters will increasingly find the insurance industry a hostile environment. The IFB is committed to supporting insurer efforts to systematically root out and tackle fraudsters. At the IFB we have access to a significant volume of industry data, use sophisticated and powerful analytical software, work in partnership with insurers, law enforcement and regulators, and have no shortage of reports being received from consumers of their knowledge or suspicions of those concerned with defrauding the industry, through our Cheatline facility.

“We would urge anyone with information on any type of insurance fraud to support industry efforts to root out the fraudsters, by calling the IFB free and confidential Cheatline on 0800 3282550 or by using our online reporting facility at www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report. Reports to Cheatline can be completely anonymous if necessary. It’s important to underline that some of those concerned with insurance fraud, are also involved in criminal activities where there is harm to local communities”.

Companies are still falling short of the changes made to the Corporate Manslaughter Act

Back in February, we reported that Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings had received a fine of £385,000 following the death of Alex Wright who died at work in September 2008.  Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings were the first convicted of the new offence under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Please see http://www.ecsbrokers.com/news/entity-defence-is-essential

In a recent BBC report, three company directors have been charged with manslaughter after an employee fell through a roof in Greater Manchester.

Please see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-13993270

So why are businesses falling short of the changes to the Corporate Manslaughter Act, and what can be done to protect yourself and your businesses?

1)     H&S regimes must be well documented and practiced

2)     They need Entity cover (extended cover for Directors & Officers policies)

As this is a criminal conviction it wouldn’t pay for the fine (as that would not be in the public interest) but would pay for the defence costs which are no doubt £’000’s

If you would like to discuss these cases, Entity Defence cover, or indeed any issue relating to health and safety, please contact ECS Insurance Brokers on 0114 280 2830

One of our specialist products has been nominated for Customer Service Provider of the Year in the UK Broker Awards 2011

Estate Insure, a division of ECS Insurance Brokers, has been nominated for Customer Service Provider of the Year in the UK Broker Awards 2011.

Please see http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s466785346&url=http%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FSaAm5g&urlhash=2LbI&pk=member-home&pp=5&poster=51567890&uid=5496192500022382592&trk=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-title

ECS Summer Cover Notes Is Available Now!

ECS Summer covernotes is jam packed with advice on travel insurance for those all important summer holidays, how to make sure your employees are covered to drive company vehicles and some fantastic business updates you simply can’t afford to miss!!  click on the link to the left of the page….

Staff Dishonesty – it’s on the increase!

Whether it’s due to the effects of the economy with desperate people taking desperate action, or whether it’s just down to a decreasing lack of respect for others or the fact that the current legal systems produces little fear of retribution I guess we’ll never know but the future of more and more businesses are being threatened by their own employees.

The incidence of theft &/or fraud by an employee is on the up and we know of just 3 such incidents running into £hundreds of thousands.

Many businesses are run on blind trust, with key personnel often being entrusted with the authority to undertake financial transactions with few checks in place….. after all that’s because you trust them.

That trust can and does get abused, costing UK businesses £millions.

A recent discovery for a Sheffield company was that one of their senior employees had embezzled over £120,000 over a 4 year period by manipulating accounts so it appeared suppliers had been paid….in reality the money was paid into the employee’s personal accounts but it took years to uncover.

It’s not only money at risk but stock can be misappropriated and it’s amazing how this can add up over a period of time.

It’s a real smack in the teeth when you are paying someone to steal from you.

A standard business insurance policy will not cover such eventualities but the cover is available. At ECS we regularly discuss this option with clients but often business owners believe it won’t happen to them, they know and trust their senior people…….but so did those who were embezzled !

To find out more about insuring against this, contact ECS Insurance Brokers on 0114 2802830 or enquiries@ecsbrokers.com

Are you still working for the Taxman?

The Adam Smith Institute calls it Tax Freedom Day, the day in the year when we finally stop earning to pay the tax man and start earning money for ourselves. This year, that day fell on 30 May 2011, ten days later than it was in the mid 1990s and, thanks to the rise in VAT designed to reduce the UK’s debt burden, three days later than last year.

The fact that nearly half your income is being taken as tax might come as a bit of a shock – particularly given that basic rate tax is only 20%. This does not, however, account for the impact of VAT and National Insurance which add to the Government take but are rarely considered in the same vein.

Reducing the burden

If you are concerned about the amount you are paying in tax, there are things you can do with your money to at least reduce some of the burden. For example:

§  Invest money in a pension: not only will this help secure your retirement but the Government rebates the tax you would otherwise pay on your earnings if your redirect them into a pension.

§  Use your ISA allowance: when you are investing money for longer term objectives, using the tax efficient opportunities available could save you a significant amount.

§  Remember you have a CGT allowance: if you invest larger amounts in growth investments, utilising your annual Capital Gains Tax allowance will also save you money.

§  Plan your inheritance: whilst it might not save you money, planning your estate to minimise the impact of inheritance tax could help reduce the impact on your heirs.

For advice on tax planning, contact Chris Holland on 0114 2802830 or chrisholland@ecsbrokers.com

The ECS Blog, Twitter and ECS Newspaper are up and running

ECS Insurance Brokers Ltd has today launched a new weekly blog and newspaper web page with the aim of keeping it followers up to date with important changes to corporate and businesses insurance, local area information from businesses in the area and the latest news of all the wonderful things happening at ECS including our fantastic weekly newspaper page http://paper.li/ecsinsbrokers/1309513430

To make sure you don’t miss out on these fantastic, free information resources, simply click subscribe on the relevant pages and we will do the rest.

Thank you from everyone at ECS Insurance Brokers Ltd.

P.S

You can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn