Civil Liability Insurance for Individual Members
This section contains details about:
Civil Liability Insurance Overview
How Liability could attach to a member of the MCofS
Significant Exclusions or Limitations
Click here for a specimen Confirmation of Cover for Individual and Honorary Members document, including Incident Reporting and Recording Guidelines.
General enquiries concerning the operation of the Civil Liability Insurance Scheme should be referred to the Chief 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 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 members concerning the operation of MCofS Civil Liability Insurance, and its relationship to subscriptions.
Membership Subscriptions
Membership subscriptions are reviewed each year, and may be increased following approval by the membership at the AGM. The CLI premium is included in the subscription and the premium is determined in consultation with our insurance broker.
There are four categories of membership – Individual, Club, Honorary 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
- Honorary membership is awarded at the recommendation of the MCofS Board *
- Associate membership is offered to organisations and companies which demonstrate a corporate commitment to supporting the mountaineering community and the mountain environment
The Individual Member subscription year runs from the date you join the MCofS. Your subscription is due at month end following the anniversary of your joining date. Your insurance cover is invalidated if you do not renew your subscription on time.
Insurance cover is only available to fully paid up members 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 member 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 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
- 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 a member of the MCofS
In practice, there are a number of possible situations in which a claim could be made against an individual, some examples are:
- A third party may sustain injury as a result of faulty equipment provided by a member
- If a novice mountaineer sustained injury on a walk or climb led by a member
- If a rock or debris was dislodged and caused injury or damage to a third party or property when it fell
- Should a landowner's gate be left open and cattle or sheep escape and cause third party injury or damage.
Sport, Recreation and Leisure Combined Liability Scheme - Policy Summary *
In order to comply with Financial Services Authority regulations Perkins Slade and the underwriter, Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, require that the policy summary below should be provided along with the foregoing notes. It is a generic document that all Sports National Representative Bodies that have access to the Civil Liability insurance policy are required to distribute to their members.
The individual certificate of insurance and schedule held by the MCofS specifies any variation from the generic policy and detail the (i) policy period, (ii) name of the insured, (iii) operative time and (iv) limit of indemnity etc. In the case of the MCofS the limit of indemnity for any one event is £10,000,000 (but £7,500,000 in respct of claims arising from abuse). *
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 (but not that undertaken on a professional basis)
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 Individual Member will be issued with a Confirmation of Cover docuement - 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.
MCofS Civil Liability Insurance provides cover for a range of all-season mountaineering activities, including:
- Mountaineering and Alpinism
- Climbing (indoor and outdoor)
- Scrambling
- Bouldering
- Hill Walking and Winter Walking
- Ski Mountaineering and Ski Touring
From July 2010 onwards we are pleased to confirm that we have extended cover to include:
- Canyoning
- Coasteering
- Incidental use of hand propelled watercraft (i.e. kayak and canoe) when used to gain access to, or as part of a mountaineering journey
- Incidental use of a bicycle when used to gain access to, or as part of a mountaineering journey
Members should note that cover for the use of kayaks, canoes and bicycles (typically mountain bikes) is restricted to their use to enable a member to reach a particular mountaineering or climbing route, and not for use in their own right as an activity which is not related to mountaineering.
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 - the person accused of abuse / alleged to be the abuser *
- 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
- Incidents / claims known to you but not reported to the insurers immediately *
* - wording updated to include honorary members, update the name of the current generic policy, increased limits of indemnity, and to clarify exclusions relating to abuse and the timely reporting of incidents. 5 May 2010