Terms of Business
Our Terms of Business Agreement sets out the terms and conditions on which we agree to provide services for you, our regulatory and statutory responsibilities, and your contractual obligations. This Agreement is between Assured Social Ltd (“Assured Social” or “we” or “us”) and Client (“you”), collectively the parties. It sets out the terms and conditions on which we agree to provide services for you, our regulatory and statutory responsibilities, and your contractual obligations.
This agreement supersedes any written agreement or oral understanding previously made or entered into by you and Assured Social Ltd. No statements, assurances, descriptions or promises made or given to you shall be binding upon Assured Social Ltd unless expressly contained in this Agreement.
Assured Social specifically draws your attention to the Data Protection and Duty of Disclosure sections – these are important reads.
About Assured Social
Assured Social is an appointed representative of La Playa Ltd, a general insurance Lloyd’s broker, registered in England and Wales at Merlin Place, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DP. La Playa Ltd (reference number 305655) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) to conduct insurance mediation activities. Our authorisation details can be verified on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA website at https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
Our Services
We act on your behalf to access insurance products and services provided by Beazley Group, a well suited Insurer, designed specifically for Influencers. You will not receive advice or recommendation from us but we will give you information about our product for you to make an informed decision.
Additionally, we help you make any changes to your insurance policy after inception if you need it, remind you when your insurance policy is due for renewal, and in the event a claim should occur we provide you with assistance in submitting the claim and obtaining settlement from the insurer.
As the appointed representative for an independent insurance intermediary we act as the agent of our clients.
We do not offer advice in relation to tax, accounting, regulatory, or legal matters.
Your Rights and Obligations
Your obligations will differ depending on whether you are classified as a consumer or a non-consumer client.
Disclosure of information
Consumers:
Under the Consumer Act 2012, you have the responsibility to take reasonable care not to misrepresent information to insurers. You are required to make sure all statements and facts disclosed on proposal forms, claim forms, and other documents are answered fully and honestly.
Non-Consumers:
It’s your responsibility to disclose complete and accurate information to insurers (including statements and facts on proposal forms, claims forms and other documents), at the inception of your policy, throughout the life of your policy and at renewal of your insurance policy. This information includes every material fact which is known to you or ought to be known to you in your regular course of business. You’re required to carry out a reasonable search to obtain all material information in order to present your risk fairly to the insurer. A reasonable search includes consulting with all senior management* and anyone that has knowledge or information relating to the risk you’re insuring. Information is ‘material’ if it would influence the judgement of a prudent insurer in setting the premium or determining whether to insure your risk. If you’re not sure whether something is material, you should disclose it. All information should be presented in a clear and accessible manner to the insurer – it’s only fair.
If you deliberately or recklessly fail to disclose material information or change of circumstances at any time during the policy period, your insurers may invalidate your insurance cover. This means they may be entitled to retain all premiums, treat the policy as if it never existed and refuse to make any claims payments. You could also be obliged to repay any claims payments that had already been made. If you fail to present the risk fairly, but your failure was neither deliberate nor reckless, the insurer’s response will depend upon what would have happened if you had complied with your obligations.
We advise that the information provided is checked thoroughly prior to submission and that you keep a record of all correspondence supplied in relation to the arrangement of your insurance cover.
*A senior manager is anyone who plays a significant role in the making of decisions about how your activities are to be managed or organised, regardless of whether or not that individual is a member of your board or is formally in a management role.
Claims
You should notify us immediately of all incidents that may result in a claim against your insurance policy. If you don’t, an insurer may refuse to deal with your claim or reduce the amount that you receive from them. We’ll provide you with assistance and advice in submitting any claim and help obtain a settlement from the insurer on the basis that we agree with your claim. In the event that an insurer becomes insolvent or delays making settlement we don’t accept liability for any unpaid amounts. Our office is open during normal office hours. If you’re unable to contact us please in emergency situations you may notify the insurer at PI claims@beazley.com.
Cancellation
You have the right to cancel your policy within 14 days following the date of purchase. We cannot accept policy cancellation outside of the initial 14 day period. Outside of the initial 14 day period, the premium is deemed fully earned by Underwriters.
All policies sold by Us are offered on an annual basis only, and if a claim has been made under the policy during the initial 14 day period, no refund will be payable as the contract will be deemed as fulfilled.
Complaints
It is our intention at all times to treat customers fairly and provide high quality service. However, if you have a complaint about our service you should contact the Chief Compliance Officer at Merlin Place, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DP, so the matter can be properly addressed. We handle all complaints promptly and fairly in accordance with the procedure outlined in the FCA rules.
If you cannot settle your complaint with us you may be entitled to refer the matter subsequently to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is an independent complaints resolution service. The website for the Financial Ombudsman Service is www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Additionally, your policy is insured in the Lloyd’s market and if you are not satisfied with our response or you have not heard from us within 2 weeks you are entitled to refer the matter to Lloyds. You may contact Lloyd’s at:
Complaints
Lloyd’s, One Lime Street
London EC3M 7HA
Email: complaints@lloyds.com
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7327 5693
Fax: +44 (0)20 7327 5225
Web: www.lloyds.com/complaints
Financial Service Compensation Scheme
We are covered by the Financial Conduct Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.
Our Obligations
Security of Insurers
We do not guarantee the financial status of any insurer and we shall not be liable to you for any financial loss suffered by you in the event of the financial failure or the insolvency of an insurer.
Data Protection
Assured Social is committed to keeping your data confidential and processing all information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
We collect and use relevant information about you to provide you with your insurance cover (or the insurance cover that benefits you) and to meet our legal obligations.
This information includes details such as your name, address and contact details and any other information that we collect about you in connection with the insurance cover from which you benefit. This information may include more sensitive details such as information about your health and any criminal convictions you may have.
In certain circumstances, we may need your consent to process certain categories of information about you (including sensitive details as outlined above). Where we need your consent, we will ask you for it separately. You don’t have to give your consent and you may withdraw your consent at any time. However, if you don’t give your consent, or you withdraw your consent, this may affect our ability to provide the insurance cover from which you benefit and may prevent us from providing cover for you or handling your claims.
If you provide personal data to us relating to any person other than yourself, you must ensure that they understand how their personal data will be used and that you are authorised to disclose it to us, and to consent to its use on their behalf.
We may share your information with third parties in order to provide our service to you. We will only disclose your personal information in connection with the insurance cover that we provide and to the extent required or permitted by law.
Your Rights
You have the right to see what personal information we hold about you and you can ask us to correct inaccuracies, delete or restrict personal information or ask for some of your personal information to be provided to someone else. You have the right to object to how we use your personal information.
For more information about how we use your personal information please see our full Privacy Policy which is available online on La Playa’s website or in other formats on request.
Our Remuneration
Client Money
Prior to your premium being forwarded to the insurer, and for your protection, we either hold your money as agent of the insurer, or hold it in a client bank account on trust for you in a statutory trust account in accordance with the FCA Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS) rules. The purpose of the statutory trust is to protect you in the event of the failure of our firm, the failure of the bank or a third party at which the money may be held.
A copy of the CASS rules are available on request.
The Criminal Finances Act 2017
We’re committed to zero tolerance towards tax evasion, bribery and other financial crimes. The new corporate offence of ‘failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’ was introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (CFA). In accordance with the new legislation, our processes include reasonable procedures to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion as well as other financial crimes. The CFA puts responsibility on firms to comply with this legislation, and we expect all commercial customers to comply with the requirements of the CFA.
Bribery Act
We operate in compliance with the UK Bribery Act 2010 and bribery laws in all countries in which we transact business. We will not accept any form of payment, gift or service, the intention of which could be considered to result in the improper performance of our obligations to you. If we reasonably believe that you have attempted to offer a bribe we will terminate our agreement with you.
Money Laundering
We’re obliged to report to the Serious Organised Crime Agency any suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing activity and we’re prohibited from disclosing any such report.
Severability
The invalidity or illegality of any portion of this Agreement shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other part of this Agreement.
Third Party Rights
A person who is not party to this agreement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce or to enjoy the benefit of any term contained in this agreement.
Termination
Our Agreement will continue until terminated by either of us giving seven days’ written notice to the other. Additionally, either Party may terminate this Agreement immediately, by giving notice in writing, under any of the following conditions:
- material breach of this Agreement without rectification of the breach within a reasonable period of time;
- fraud, non-disclosure, misrepresentation or dishonesty;
- either party becoming the subject of voluntary or involuntary liquidation or administration proceedings.
In the event that this Agreement is terminated, we will no longer provide you with any services, including claims handling, except where we’re required to continue handling your claim under the terms of our delegated authority from certain insurers. Any commission or fee is considered to be fully earned when your insurance(s) incept and any unpaid commission or fee will be due and payable to us upon termination.
Governing Law
This Agreement shall be construed and enforced under the laws of England and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of England & Wales.
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