Member Services | Civil Liability for Clubs

Civil Liability Insurance for Club Members - An Introduction

This section contains details about:

Membership Subscriptions

Club Members - Registration of members

Civil Liability Insurance Overview

How Liability could attach to members of a Club

Policy Summary

Significant Exclusions or Limitations

Click here for specimen copies of the MCofS Certificate of Insurance and Confirmation of Liability Cover documents

Click here for a specimen Confirmation of Club Cover document, including Incident Reporting and Recording Guidelines.

General enquiries concerning the operation of the Civil Liability Insurance Scheme and the cover provided should be referred to the Senior Officer at the MCofS, rather than direct to Perkins Slade. Telephone 01738-493947 or use the contact form on this website.

Incidents should be recorded and reported using the guidelines detailed in the Confirmation of Club Cover (see above), to The Sports Team, Perkins Slade Limited, 3 Broadway, Broad Street, Birmingham B15 1BQ. Telephone 0121 698 8000; Fax 0121 625 9000. email sports@perkins-slade.com.

The following information is provided to inform officials and members of Club Members regarding the operation of MCofS Civil Liability Insurance, and its relationship to subscriptions.

Membership Subscriptions

There are three categories of membership – Individual, Club and Associate

• Individual membership options include Ordinary, Youth, Concession, Joint and Family categories
• Individuals who are members of a Club Member are eligible for MCofS membership at concessionary rates, providing the club has registered the member's details and paid the relevant subscription to the MCofS
• Associate membership is offered to organisations and companies which demonstrate a corporate commitment to supporting the mountaineering community and the mountain environment

The purpose of the membership subscription is to:

• support the activities of the MCofS in representing members' interests
• enable the MCofS to provide relevant information, including a subscription to The Scottish Mountaineer magazine
• provide the MCofS (its staff and volunteers), club and individual members, with Civil Liability Insurance (CLI)

The club subscription year is the same as the MCofS financial year - April to March. Subscription rates are set at the AGM preceding the subscription year - for example fees for the year April 2010 to March 2011 would be agreed at the 2009 AGM. The annual subscriptions of Club Members shall be due and paid within 9 months of the start of the financial year (i.e. no later than December).

The CLI premium is included in the subscription and the premium is determined in consultation with the insurance broker.

Club Members - Registration of members

Members of Clubs declared as being active to the MCofS will enjoy CLI cover on activities undertaken with the registering club, another club or individually.

CLI insurance covers club events including outdoor and indoor activities. For insurance purposes a Club Member member who no longer participates in club events, including social activities, need not be declared in the submission by that club. However, such members may wish to continue to support the MCofS by paying the subscription fee. The MCofS maintains a database of registered club members. In the event of a claim by a Club Member, the database will be used to establish whether a member of a club involved in a claim is registered and eligible for cover.

Members joining a Club must be registered with the MCofS within one month of joining that club. The subscription for new members is calculated on a pro-rata basis in blocks of 3 months.

Where clubs undertake activities or events involving unaccompanied children (under the age of 18), it is a mandatory requirement of the insurance broker that a Club Member has an appropriate Child Protection Policy in place. This will ensure that the officers and members of that club are covered by the CLI Policy in the event of a claim against them made by a child. In the event of such a claim being made, the insurance policy may be invalidated if no Child Protection Policy is in operation.

If a guest participates in a club event, s/he is not personally covered by the insurance. If that person causes a claim to be made s/he can be sued on a personal basis, or the club can also be held responsible and may be brought into legal action. CLI will cover the club, its officials, and its members and the event only. The guest is not covered in his / her own right and therefore, should the guest (who is uninsured) be the subject of a claim by a member of the club (who is insured), the member who brings the claim may be unable to receive any damages awarded, due to the lack of insurance held by the guest if they are unable to pay the damages.

If a guest participates with the club on a regular basis they should be regarded as a member of the club and be made either a prospective or full member, and the relevant subscription sent to the MCofS. In this context we have agreed with our insurers that a guest may particpate up to twice before s/he should be registered with MCofS for insurance purposes. There is automatic cover for the club when individuals participate in club events on a guest or trial basis. The club is indemnified for liability but the individual guest has no insurance in his / her own right until becoming a fully paid up member of the club and being registered with MCofS as a member of the club.

Assuming that the Club constitution allows their membership, children (under 18 years old) may join a club and participate in its activities and the club will be indemnified against liability. Although children legally cannot be held responsible for their actions, the insurance charge is still applicable because when liabilities are incurred by a child in respect of third party personal injury or property damage, the duty of care will ultimately lie with the club. Club officials must ensure they are aware of the provisions of the MCofS Child Protection Policy Statement and Guidelines when organising events involving children.

Insurance cover is provided for a club if a claim is made against it for civil damages following an allegation of abuse against a child. No cover is provided should such a claim be made against an individual accused of abuse because such cases are brought under criminal rather than civil law. NB. The insurance policy responds to civil claims only and would not respond to any criminal allegation. **

Insurance cover is only available to members of clubs who have been declared to the MCofS and who have a permanent UK address. Such members are covered for mountaineering activities in both the UK and overseas (but excluding USA and Canada).

Members with a permanent UK address who are working on a temporary contract or serving with the armed forces abroad are included within the cover, for mountaineering activities in both the UK and overseas (but excluding USA and Canada).

Any person permanently living abroad is not covered because the policy is subject to UK jurisdiction and the underwriters will not extend cover to permanent overseas residents.

Civil Liability Insurance Overview

MCofS Civil Liability Insurance provides protection against any circumstance in civil law: for the MCofS, including its volunteers and staff; for Club Members, including club officials and members; and for Individual Members, including:

• PUBLIC LIABILITY: Accidental bodily injury to third parties and / or damage to third party property arising out of mountaineering activities
• PRODUCT LIABILITY: Accidental bodily injury to third parties and / or damage to third party property arising out of any goods sold or supplied by members of the Club Member
• PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY: Professional Indemnity cover is provided to protect our members (except those who should have separate cover due to being a guide or instructor) for claims arising out of Errors or Omissions, and is provided for circumstances involving bad advice or failure to act. [The wording of this paragraph was updated on 30 July 2008]
• LIBEL AND SLANDER: Includes defamation
• DIRECTORS' AND OFFICERS' LIABILITY: Legal liability protection in respect of mismanagement
• OWNER'S LIABILITY: The policy is also extended to protect against liability arising out of the use, ownership or possession of any club premises, e.g. mountaineering huts

How Liability could attach to members of a Club

First, it is necessary to explain that liability actually attaches to individual members of clubs, not to the club itself, unless the club is incorporated (see note below). Most mountaineering and hill walking clubs are unincorporated and therefore they have no legal personality of their own, unlike companies limited by shares or guarantee (or partnerships in Scotland). Because clubs are unincorporated their property - the legal title to land and buildings - has to be held in the names of individual members (minimum 2, maximum 4).

So as far as clubs are concerned, all members of a club are equally liable at law in the event of any claim arising from, or in connection with, its activities, for example in respect of its hut.

In practice, the claimant would address a claim to a limited number of individuals. In the case of a claim involving an accident at a hut the claim would be addressed to the hut warden, officers, committee members and trustees. Any individual singled out to defend a claim would be entitled to an indemnity from the membership on whose behalf they were acting in respect of the claim itself and associated costs - to the full extent of any uninsured losses.

Liability can attach to the collective membership of mountaineering clubs under a variety of circumstances, principally under the five heads of cover detailed above, some examples are:

1. A member or third party could be injured by faulty or poorly maintained club premises.
2. Members or third parties may take offence to published materials, e.g. guidebooks / newsletters / website.
3. Food poisoning could be suffered by a member or a third party from materials either made or distributed by a member or members of the club at an event organised by the club, or illness could be caused by a contaminated water supply to a hut.
4. A member or a third party may sustain injury as a result of faulty equipment provided by a member or members of the club at an event organised by the club.
5. If a novice mountaineer sustained injury on a walk or climb led by a member or members during an event organised in the name of the club.
6. If a rock or debris was dislodged and caused injury or damage to a member or a third party or property when it fell.
7. Should the club become insolvent as the result of mismanagement of finances.
8. Should a landowner's gate be left open and cattle or sheep escape and cause third party injury or damage.

Note: Clubs may incorporate themselves, usually by registering as a company limited by guarantee. Such a company has no share capital. The members guarantee that in the event of the company going into liquidation they will each contribute a specified amount, say £5. Thus, their liability is limited to £5. The company's liability is unlimited - all its assets (such as a club hut if owned by the club) are available to meet its debts.

£2,000,000 is the minimum level of cover that is provided. The individual certificate of insurance and schedule held by the MCofS and BMC respectively specify any variation from the generic policy and detail the (i) policy period, (ii) name of the insured, (iii) operative timeand (iv) limit of indemnity etc. In the case of the MCofS and BMC the limit of indemnity for any one event is £5,000,000. See note below reviewing the policy.

This Liability policy is an annually renewable Combined Liability insurance, underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc.

This Policy provides cover in respect of:

• Civil Liability (including: Public Liability, Products Liability, Professional Indemnity).
• Civil Liability to pay damages in respect of claims arising out of the conduct of the Business or Insured Activities made against the Insured and notified to the Company during the Period of Insurance.
• The Civil Liability section also provides legal liability cover for associated claimant legal costs.
• The Civil Liability section of the policy provides cover for all liability to pay damages under civil law unless otherwise excluded under the list of policy exclusions.

Cover therefore includes liability:

• arising out of injury to any person (excluding persons employed);
• in respect of loss or damage to third party property;
• in respect of nuisance and trespass;
• in respect of libel and/or slander committed in good faith;
• arising out of advice, tuition or coaching provided.

In certain circumstances cover may include member-to-member liability. This cover applies only when one Insured member brings a claim against another Insured member.

The following tables provide only a summary of the main policy benefits and the terms and conditions. For full details of these and all the terms and conditions that apply you should read the policy document. Commencing January 2008, and thereafter on payment of subscriptions, each Club Member will be issued with a personalised Confirmation of Club Cover - click on the link for an example.

Note: The original Certificate of Insurance is held at the MCofS office. A specimen copy of the Certificate of Insurance is available here.

Significant Exclusions or Limitations

• risks that require more specific insurance, i.e. Motor, Marine
• injury to any Person Employed
• loss of or damage to property in your custody or control
• pollution unless caused by a sudden identifiable unintended and unexpected incident
• any legal action brought against the Insured in a Court of Law within the United States of America or Canada other than in certain circumstances
• fines, penalties or punitive damages
• damage to products supplied and work and the repair, replacement or recall of same work
• claims arising out of or in connection with asbestos
• repair of defects in premises disposed of
• claims arising out of or in connection with damage to any Data
• nuclear risks
• war risks
• deliberate, dishonest or foreseeable acts
• infringement of trademark name registered design copyright or patent right
• medical negligence
• abuse
• Directors and Officers liability for any wrongful act employment wrongful act or wrongful trading
• some other specific events may be excluded or cover may be qualified
• claims arising from loss happening prior to the retroactive date stated in the schedule

** Wording revised 26 January 2009

The wording relating to guest particpation was updated on 22 January 2010