Specialist liability broker Howden has issued a word of warning to laboratory owners to check whether premiums on some of their policies such as Employers' Liability cover are adjustable
Jamie Eaton of Howden explains: "The premium for Employers' Liability and Public Liability charged by a number of insurers is adjustable.
"While that might sound good on paper, in reality it isn't.
"Those insurers will charge a minimum premium based on a laboratory's income and wage roll.
"This is then adjustable at the end of the policy period if the income or wage roll surpasses that of the original estimation.
"We've heard of some small firms facing an additional payment of as much as £20,000 at the end of the period of cover".
Howden launched Labsure, a new liability insurance packaged for Ukas-accredited laboratories, last year and a major benefit of the package is that, unlike other offerings in the market, the premium is non adjustable.
Eaton goes on to say: "In our view, adjustable premiums effectively penalise a laboratory if it performs well, and this simply should not be the case.
"Labsure premiums are fixed and non-adjustable, so our policyholders can be assured that they won't get a nasty surprise at the end of the term."
