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More than a month on from the Government ’ s launch of its £ 800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme , Access explores what impact it is having on the live events sector and whether it is providing organisers with the confidence the initiative ’ s instigators intended
Words : Cameron Roberts
Better late than never , the UK Government launched the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme on 22 September . The £ 800m scheme offers cost indemnification if an event has to be cancelled , postponed , relocated or abandoned due to new UK Civil Authority restrictions in response to Covid-19 .
The announcement in August that the scheme was forthcoming followed more than a year of lobbying from the live events industry , but it was met with a somewhat tepid reaction from many in the industry . Tourlife MD Harry Parslow summed up the feelings of many when he said it was “ too little , too late ”.
The main gripe from the industry
has been that , while the scheme covers cancellations due to Covid-19 lockdowns , it does little to mitigate the risk of events being cancelled due to mandatory capacity caps , headline artists cancelling due to Covid-19 or the re-introduction of social distancing .
While some event professionals have publicly aired their frustrations about the perceived shortcomings of the scheme , others have told Access , off the record , that they have not been able to obtain quotes from brokers , and full policy details are unavailable .
The Reinsurance Scheme was created by Treasury in partnership with the Department for Culture , Music and Sport ( DCMS ), after DCMS had been under considerable pressure to help an events industry that was unable to plan ahead due to a lack of cancellation insurance on the commercial market .
DCMS says the aim of the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme is to give event organisers the confidence to plan
“ Ironically it looks like [ the Government ] has released insurance for the one thing it is not likely to do , which is go into lockdown without warning .”
– Paul Reed , CEO , association of independent festivals ( AIF )
through to September 2022 . To enact the scheme the Government is working with Lloyd ’ s Market insurers , including Arch , Beazley , Dale , Hiscox and Munich Re .
Lloyd ’ s Market Association CEO Sheila Cameron says : “ The Lloyd ’ s
Market Association , together with its insurer members , have worked collaboratively with HM Government to ensure the live events sector has the confidence to re-open and create value for our economy .”
Though the lofty words from the Government and its associates imply the scheme is an all-encompassing support mechanism against Covidrelated event cancellations , it does not appear to protect the industry against the impact of the Government ’ s wider plans around a rising Covid-case scenario .
Association of Independent Festivals ( AIF ) CEO Paul Reed says : “ We ’ ve looked at the Government ’ s Winter Plan [ Plan B ] and it looks like it will be enacting social distancing or other such restrictions prior to a total lockdown in the event of a public health crisis . So , ironically , it looks like it has released insurance for the one thing it is not likely to do , which is go into lockdown without warning .”
The Plan B that Reed refers to is the contingency the Government has put in place should Covid cases rise and hospital cases increase in the winter months . The plan details , among other things , how the Government would introduce vaccine passports , mask mandates and other measures in favour of another national lockdown . This certainly lends credence to the