The government ’ s insurance scheme , designed to protect events businesses from cancellations , has been shown to provide only narrow protection to exhibition organisers .
Events organisers , politicians and legal experts have said the Live Events Reinsurance scheme offers only very limited cover . Despite speaking to dozens of organisers , EN has been unable to find a single business that has received a pay-out .
Despite promising the scheme would provide £ 800m of support to protect businesses from losses cause by Covid-19 restrictions , officials have refused to disclose the value of policies taken out or whether a single claim has been paid .
Administrators of the scheme Marsh Commercial told EN that only the government ’ s Department for Digital , Culture , Media and Sport ( DCMS ) could tell us how many events have been insured under the scheme .
But the DCMS said they could not disclose any information about take-up of the scheme because the information was “ commercially sensitive ”.
Labour ’ s shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell MP has been calling on the government to disclose the real value of the scheme .
Speaking to EN she said : “ The government ’ s Live Events Reinsurance scheme is a flop , failing to provide the safeguards the live events and exhibitions sector needs to operate alongside Covid-19 . The scheme as designed is totally inadequate , only covering full
How sure is insurance ?
The exhibitions industry fought for protection from covidrelated cancellation losses . The Live Events Reinsurrance Scheme was described as an £ 800m policy to protect events businesses when it was launched in September . But four months on and after a new wave of cancellations , neither the government nor administrators of the scheme have been able to provide a single example of a successful payout . Emily Wallin investigates
40 — February