We are shocked by the scenes of violence and destruction that we are seeing in towns and cities across the UK, affecting families, homeowners and businesses.
We’re aware that some of our clients may have suffered property damage or had business operations disrupted by the violence, and we want to do everything we can to help.
Riot Compensation Act 2016
Most property policies will include standard cover for physical damage to property. All comprehensive policies will come with riot cover. However, some policies may contain an exclusion for losses caused by, or in consequences of riot. There are additional reporting circumstances surrounding these types of claim as defined under Riot Compensation Act 2016 (RCA).
The RCA was introduced to help communities recover more quickly from the impact of rioting, where the affected individuals are either inadequately insured their claim may be declined by their insurer.
Essentially the government has to declare the incident which caused damage to your property a riot; and the RCA will compensate people for the damage incurred. One of the provisos is you have to claim for the damage initially from your Insurance company, the Insurers will then issue a claim under the Act. It is therefore extremely important that clients report any damage within the required timescales – Insurers will reject claims if they are unable to claim the monies back from the government.
You can claim directly form the government but this would be a drawn out process to reclaim your losses, and you would initially incur the cost. Full claims guidance can be found here.
We would recommend all our clients contact their usual Wilsons Account Handler as soon as possible if any damage or loss has occurred – whether the result of a riot or not.