If your business holds business interruption insurance, you should check the wording of your policy to see if today’s decision by the Supreme Court assists with any potential claim.

As a consequence of the country enduring national lockdowns, many businesses have suffered serious financial difficulty or closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led businesses to make claims under their insurance policies for business interruption losses. In many cases, the response from insurers has been to refuse to pay out, arguing that business interruption policies did not cover government-imposed lockdowns.

The full judgment needs to be considered for its application to individual cases, however:

• The Supreme Court has ruled that it interprets the wording of the business interruption policies considered to include COVID-19-related claims.
• The ruling provides guidance on up to 700 policies and brings welcomed clarity for up to 400,000 policy holders, many of whom have had COVID-19-related claims disputed by their insurers, but can now expect to receive insurance pay-outs following this landmark judgment.

If you have a policy and unsure whether your business can make a claim under its business interruption policy, we are here to help – get in touch.