What is the exposure to your business?

The threat of terrorism in the UK has been “Severe” since 2014, meaning that an attack is “Highly Likely”.

This has been lifted at 2 separate occasions to “Critical” (expected imminently), following the attacks on

Manchester Arena and London Borough Market in 2017.

Whilst historically the Terrorism threat has been isolated to major cities, we are now seeing an increased spread of threat across the UK, due to the knock-on effect caused by supply chain disruption and the lack of geographical restrictions on the use of the Internet.

We are witnessing more “lone wolf” attacks as well as people that have been self-radicalised online, with no direct affiliation to a known Terrorist group. This means that people are acting for ideological purposes, often against a religion, ethnic grouping or a commercial entity, rather than directly against the UK Government.

The threat we face now is as much about catastrophic damage caused by explosion as it is about bodily injury caused by vehicle or knife attack, and the ensuing disruption to your business or commercial property.

Your business may not be the target of a Terrorist attack, but could be impacted by either the radius of the blast, or the business interruption and denial of access caused either by the time taken to repair and replace, or indeed the consequences for the supply chain and the footfall returning to the same level prior to the attack.

Key Considerations

The UK Terrorism insurance market has undergone some fundamental changes over the last few years, with the threat that customers are facing constantly evolving. This has been influenced by the ongoing instability in the Middle East, as well as home grown extremism both from Islamic fundamentalism as well as the Far Right.

As such the Insurance market has had to adapt to these changes, to match the shift from the military tactics and weaponry used by the IRA in the 90’s to the less sophisticated attacks using vehicles and knives that we have seen across Western Europe over the last 3 years.

What cover is available?

Pool Re, as a result of the changing impact of Terrorism attacks have adapted their wordings to include fire following cyber attack, as well as looking at including non damage denial of access at some stage next year.

Through our insurer partner Geo Specialty who have created an insurance wording to bridge the gap in cover we can offer you and your business peace of mind if you are a direct victim of a Terrorist event, or if you are just caught up in the consequential business interruption or loss of attraction thereafter.

Our cover also encompasses any incidents that take place for Ideological purposes, be that a “lone wolf” or someone who has been radicalised online. We cover attacks against Commercial entities, people and religion, it doesn’t have to be political or designed to influence the UK Government.

For more information please talk to us on 020 3907 7866.