BALDERSONS LIMITED   – TERMS OF BUSINESS
772-774 CHESTERFIELD ROAD, SHEFFIELD S8 0SF
Tel. 0114 2582561 Fax 0114 2587119
Email:team@baldersons.co.uk

Accepting our Terms of Business
By asking us, the Intermediary to quote for, arrange or handle your insurances, you are providing your informed agreement to these Terms of Business. We draw your particular attention to the section headed ‘The processing of your personal data’, (specifically the sub section titled ‘Credit Checks’). For your own benefit and protection, you should read these terms carefully. If you are unsure about any aspect of our Terms of Business or have any questions regarding our relationship with you, please contact us at the above address.

The Financial Conduct Authority
Baldersons Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our Financial Services Registration number is 567875.

Our permitted business is introducing, advising, arranging, dealing as agent and assisting in the administration and performance of general insurance contracts, and credit broking in relation to insurance instalment facilities.

You may check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA‘s website, www.fca.gov.uk/register/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Our service
We act as an Intermediary, not an Insurer. Our role is to advise you and, after we have assessed your needs, to make a suitable recommendation. In situations where we are able to arrange insurance for you but do not offer advice, we shall confirm the position to you in writing. We will also act on your behalf when helping you make changes to or renewing your policy and in the event of a claim. If there are any circumstances where we act as an agent of the insurer, we will let you know the capacity in which we act before we finalise your arrangements.

We will not provide further advice or recommendations following the arrangement of insurance cover, unless you notify us of a material change of circumstances or formally request that we review your insurance arrangements.

We select personal and commercial insurance products from a range of insurers, but for certain products, we may only deal with a single insurer or select from a limited number of Insurers. We will give you further information about this before we finalise your insurance arrangements: where we select products from a limited number of insurers we will provide you with a list of the insurers we deal with for these products. If we propose using another intermediary to help place your business, we will confirm this to you in good time before any arrangements are finalised. We will not in any circumstances act as an insurer nor guarantee or warrant the solvency of any insurer. However, we do monitor the financial standing of the Insurers we use.

We may be able to offer finance for insurance instalments through the insurer and / or a premium finance provider. We will give you further information about this before we finalise your instalment arrangements.
Complaints and Compensation
We aim to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times, but if you are not satisfied, please contact us at the above address. When dealing with your complaint, we will follow the complaint handling procedures; a summary of this is available on request.
If you are still not satisfied, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR.  Access to the FOS is available for complainants coming within one of the following categories at the time we receive their complaint:

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim without any upper limit. 100% of the claim without any upper limit for compulsory classes of insurance (such as Third Party Motor or Employers Liability) and professional indemnity insurance and general insurance claims arising from the death or incapacity of the policyholder owing to injury, sickness or infirmity, or where the insurance intermediary has failed to pay money to an insurer, pay away money it has received from an insurer, or has failed to take steps to allow the insurer to effect the contract of insurance. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS on 0800 678 1100 (free phone), or on 020 7741 4100 or at www.fscs.org.uk.

Payment for our services
Any commission we receive will be paid by the insurer or product provider from the insurance premium.  Any monies we receive from the premium finance provider will be paid from the finance repayment.  On request, we will be pleased to provide information about any commission received by us in the handling of your insurances. We also charge you for handling your insurances as follows: Administration Fees For New Business, Policy Adjustments, Renewals, Mid Term Adjustments £20-£100 maximum dependant on work involved.  Mid Term Adjustment Returns will also be subject to commission clawback. You will be advised in advance. Policy Cancellation £25- £100 variable + commission; Green Cards £25, Replacement Certificate £10; Taxation Cover Note £10. Any New Business Insurance is subject to a minimum cost of £100 (Premium plus Administration Fees). Travel Insurance is subject to a minimum charge of £25 (Premium plus Administration Fees). Duplicate paper documents £10.00, email documents £0.

You will receive a quotation which will tell you the total price to be paid, and which identifies any fees, taxes and charges separately from the premium, before your insurance arrangements are concluded. Full payment of premium and fees is due before cover commences, or as otherwise stated under terms of credit, or in the debit note, invoice or statement issued to you. We also draw your attention to the sections headed ‘Cancellation of insurances’ and ‘Ending your relationship with us’.

Handling money
Our financial arrangements with most insurance companies are on a “Risk Transfer” basis. This means that we act as agents of the insurer in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to clients. In these circumstances such monies are deemed to be held by the insurers with which your insurance is arranged. However, if Risk Transfer does not apply, such monies will be held by us in an Insurer Trust account set up in accordance with FCA rules. Interest earned on monies held in such a Statutory Trust account will be retained by us. For the purpose of some transactions, client money may pass through other authorised intermediaries before being paid to the insurer.

Cancellation of insurances
In the event of cancellation, charges for our services will apply in accordance with the ‘Payment for our services’ section above.  The terms of your policy may allow insurers to retain the premium in full or to charge short-period premiums in the event of cancellation before the policy expires. Any relevant certificate of insurance requested must be returned to us or the insurer concerned.

Ending your relationship with us
Subject to your immediate settlement of any outstanding premiums and fees, you may instruct us to stop acting for you and we will not impose a penalty. Your instructions must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt. In circumstances where we feel we cannot continue providing services to you, we will give you a minimum of 7 days’ notice where there is a valid reason for doing so. We will advise you of the reason for cancellation. Valid reasons may include but are not limited to non-payment of premium or fees, where you give instructions to another party to handle your Insurance(s), failure to provide requested documentation or information, deliberate misrepresentation or non-disclosure or attempted fraud, or the use of threatening or abusive behaviour or language, or intimidation or bullying of our staff or suppliers. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, if our relationship ends, any transactions previously initiated will be completed according to these Terms of Business. You will be liable to pay for any transactions concluded prior to the end of our relationship and we will be entitled to retain commission received for conducting these transactions, together with all fees charged by us for services provided.

Your responsibilities
If you are a consumer, you are responsible for answering any questions in relation to any proposal for insurance cover honestly and to the best of your knowledge, providing complete and accurate information which insurers will require.  This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover.  This is particularly important before taking out a policy but also at renewal or if you make a mid-term amendment to your policy. If you fail to disclose information or misrepresent any fact which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid.  If you are a commercial customer you have a duty to give a fair presentation of risk to the insurer.  This means that you should disclose every material circumstance relevant to the risk being insured following a reasonable search within your business to identify and verify such information.  This should include information which you and where applicable your senior management , persons responsible for arranging your insurance or other relevant third parties know or ought to know and should include all information that would influence the judgement of the insurer or that would put the insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries.You are responsible for answering any questions in relation to any proposal for insurance cover honestly and to the best of your knowledge, providing complete and accurate information which insurers will require. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover. This is particularly important before taking out a policy but also at renewal or if you make a mid-term amendment to your policy. If you are a commercial customer, please be reminded you are responsible for providing the complete and accurate information which insurers require at inception, renewal and throughout the life of a policy. If you fail to disclose information, or misrepresent any fact which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid. You must check all details on any proposal form or Statement of Facts and pay particular attention to any declaration you may be asked to sign.

It is important that you read all insurance documents issued to you and ensure that you are aware of the cover, limits and other terms that apply. Particular attention must be paid to any warranties and conditions as failure to comply with them could invalidate your policy.
You must inform us immediately of any changes in circumstances which may affect the services provided by us or the cover provided by your policy.

Examples of material circumstances are:-

Special or unusual circumstances relating to the risk; Any particular concerns which led you to seek insurance cover for the risk; and Anything which those concerned with the class of insurance and field of activity in question would generally understand as being something that would be dealt with in a fair presentation of risks for this type of insurance. The information must be presented in a way which would be reasonably clear and accessible to a prudent insurer.  If you are unsure whether to disclose any information you should speak to us.  You need to take into account the size and complexity of your business and allow yourself sufficient time before your renewal date to consider and/or assess your insurance requirements.  Failure to provide a ‘fair representation’ may result in a number of remedies by the insurer.  If the breach was deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract and keep the premium.  If the breach was not deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract, proportionately reduce a claim settlement or amend the insurance policy terms and conditions then review the merits of a claim on this basis.  You should therefore always provide complete and accurate information to us when we ask you about the insurance risks your business faces before taking out a policy, at renewal and throughout the life of the policy. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover. It is important that you read all insurance documents issued to you and ensure that you are aware of the cover, limits and other terms that apply.  Particular attention must be paid to any warranties and conditions as failure to comply with them could invalidate your policy.  You must inform us immediatiely of any changes in circumstances which may affect the services provided by us or the cover provided by your policy.  For example:- Employer effects Public Liability policy with a premium of £5000 and discloses innocently incorrect number of employees, 6 months later a personal injury claim for £500k is made by a member of the public and it transpires the employer has 10 employees.  The insurer stateses it would have increased the premium to £6250 and is therefore only prepared to pay out £400k for the claim.

If you are unsure about any matter, please contact us for guidance.

The processing of your personal data
In your dealing with us you may provide us with information that may include data that is known as personal data.  Where we process personal data we comply with statutory data processing requirements as set out by the Data Protection Act 2018.  The personal data we collect will include information relating to your name, address, date of birth, phone number, email, criminal offences, medical conditions, bank details.  We will process your personal data to allow us to provide you with our services as your Insurance Broker in quoting for, arranging and administering your insurances (and in arranging insurance premium finance where applicable).  Your personal data will also be used to manage future communications between ourselves.  Where you have agreed, or in circumstances where to do so will be in our mutual interest, your personal data will be used to provide you with further information about our wider products and services.  You can opt out from receiving such communications by emailing team@baldersons.co.uk

In processing personal data for insurance purposes about health or criminal offences, we will only do so to enable us to provide our service to you and on the basis of it being in the public interest.

We will only use your data for the purpose for which it was intended.  We will only grant access to or share your data within our firm or other firms associated with us, other authorised third parties and product and service providers such as Insurers and premium finance providers where we are entitled to do so by law under lawful data processing.

The Data Protection Act 2018 provides you with Access Rights that allow you to gain an understanding on the data being processed, who we share it with, for what purpose, why we need to retain it and retention periods, to object to the processing and to place restrictions on the processing, to request copies of your data and to request the deletion of your data. If you require further information on how we process your data or you wish to exercise your rights, please contact ourselves.  How we process your personal data is detailed further within our Privacy Notice.

Credit checks
We, and other firms involved in arranging your insurance (insurers, other intermediaries or premium finance companies) may use public and personal data from a variety of sources including credit reference agencies and other organisations.  The information is used to help tailor a price, to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you and to help prevent fraud.  Any credit reference search will appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds.  If you have any questions about this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Conflict of interests
Occasions can arise where we or one of our clients or product providers may have a potential conflict of interest with business being transacted for you. If this happens, and we become aware that a potential conflict exists, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions and we will detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.

Claims and Underwriting Exchange Registers
You should take note of the required procedures in the event of a claim, which will be explained in the policy documentation. You are obliged to notify us/insurers of a claim or possible claim immediately. Insurers exchange and check information via various databases including the Motor Insurance Database to prevent fraudulent claims. We will employ due care and skill when acting on your behalf in respect of a claim.  If we act on behalf of an insurer in negotiating and settling claims, we will inform you that we will be acting on behalf of the insurer, not yourselves, before your insurance arrangements are concluded and again at the point of claim.

January 14th 2020

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