Dan Weir, Research Analyst, Childcare Insurance Services (CIS)
This blog looks at PACEY Practitioner Insurance, provided by Childcare Insurance Services (CIS) and included in PACEY Practitioner membership for childminders and nannies*. We’ll be diving into some of the detail of the policy, helping you understand its features. It is important to be clear though that this article is only intended to help you understand how your policy works, it is no substitute for reading the full Policy Wording yourself.
What’s covered?
“When am I covered?” is a key question that most policy holders will ask about their insurance. Ultimately, the policy holder is covered for what is set out in the terms and conditions of the policy. PACEY Practitioner Insurance has been designed especially for childminders and nannies. A lot of thought went into its structure to ensure the requirements a member has to follow are not too burdensome while making sure that the risks covered are realistic. In most cases and for most members, this means that provided you are running your business sensibly and responsibly, and not doing anything too unusual, you should not be in danger of invalidating your insurance.
As a registered childminder or nanny, you already have to comply with the requirements of your regulator – Ofsted in England and CIW in Wales. CIS has worked closely with Covéa, the policy’s underwriters, to ensure that it never contradicts existing regulatory requirements. This gives you more certainty, as well as keeping the policy wording’s length down. However, it is still important to understand the limits of the policy, and how it operates in more unusual circumstances.
An important principle of the policy is that it only covers you where you – or your registered assistants – are supervising the children you look after. This means they are in your ‘direct care and custody’ at all times. Any injuries that happen when a child is outside your supervision will not be covered by the policy. This means, for example, if a child walks to school unaccompanied the policy will not cover them during this time. There is an exception to this rule, which is that in an emergency you can leave the children in the care of another responsible adult. However, this must only be in sudden and unforeseen circumstances beyond your control.
Managing risk
This leads to another principle that underpins the policy. You are expected to take reasonable precautions to manage the risk in your setting. Not only to protect the children in your care, of course, but also to meet the requirements of the insurance cover. This is particularly true where potentially hazardous activities are concerned. In some cases – such as using trampolines, climbing frames, garden swimming pools, bouncy castles and similar inflatable play equipment – there are additional conditions imposed by the insurer for their use. These can generally be seen as common sense, for example obtaining parental permission, and complying with manufacturers’ instructions.
In other cases, such as using fire pits, there may not be specific listed conditions. However, there is a general requirement that risk assessments are undertaken with appropriate risk mitigations implemented. A good rule to bear in mind is that although insurance is there to protect you if something goes wrong, you must always take the same precautions that you would if you did not have insurance in place.
Outside the cover
Finally, it is important to be aware that there are some activities or scenarios that may require additional insurance. One of the most common examples is driving. Your PACEY Practitioner Insurance policy does not cover transporting the children you care for. Importantly, you may not be adequately covered under your ordinary car insurance, either. The MotorMinder policy is available to cover you in these circumstances. Similarly, while PACEY Practitioner Insurance will cover damage to third party property, such as that of a minded child, it will not cover damage caused to your personal property by minded children. For this you need specialist home contents insurance, such as the HomeMinder policy.
We hope that you’ve found this general introduction to some of the main terms and conditions of PACEY’s Practitioner policy useful. If you have a specific question, you can find out more on our FAQs page. In the next instalment we will be breaking down the Legal Expenses Insurance and exploring the extensive legal toolbox included as standard.
*with a membership start date on or after 1 April 2022.
