Frequently Asked Questions

There are two options when applying for insurance cover through the Affinities Department:

• We have bespoke Affinity Schemes through certain Associations, Organisations and Training Schools. If you are eligible for cover under one of these schemes you will be entitled to a discounted insurance premium. Please ensure to tell us this information when you apply for a quote.
  
  
• If you are not a member of an association or your association does not hold a bespoke affinity scheme through us, we can continue to provide cover for you under our direct Affinity Scheme.

The core insurance cover is Professional, Public and Products Liability insurance and in the majority of cases Legal Expenses insurance.

The policy is designed to provide insurance cover to individual health and wellbeing professionals.

As a Health Professional you will provide advice, treatment, activities or therapies to members of the public. You can therefore be held legally liable for injury, harm, financial loss and damage to property alleged to have been caused to your clients, patients or other parties as a result of your actions in relation to your profession. Please read the full information we provide about this insurance cover, enabling you to make an informed decision as to whether or not this insurance policy is suitable for your requirements.  

Balens require copies of your qualifications for the activities/therapies you require cover for.

The Affinities Insurance cover includes the following:

• Balens Health Professionals Combined Liability Insurance Policy:

Section A: Professional Liability & Malpractice, Public Liability and Products Liability

Section B: Personal Accident (this is an optional section of insurance cover). If you wish to include this insurance cover, please select on the Quote and Buy system or on the Proposal form.

Section C: Business Equipment ‘All Risks’ (this is an optional section of insurance cover). If you wish to include this insurance cover, please select on the Quote and Buy system or on the Proposal form.

• Commercial Legal Protection Insurance Policy  In some cases this type of insurance may not be automatically included.

For a summary of the key sections of policy cover please see our Key Points Document: www.balens.co.uk/BalensKeyPointsDocumentCombinedLiability.pdf

The element of the Professional Liability & Malpractice insurance policy offered and arranged by Balens Ltd protects the insured against third party allegations of professional negligence and breaches of professional duty. The policy will provide cover for any damages awarded as a result of your negligence and will provide cover for any legal costs and expenses associated with your defence. Subject to terms and conditions.

The element of the Public Liability insurance policy offered and arranged by Balens Ltd provides insurance cover against third party claims and allegations of negligently causing accidental bodily injury or damage to third party property for which you are deemed legally liable for but that does not directly link to the treatment and/or advice provided by you or your business. This element of the insurance policy will provide financial indemnity for any damages awarded and will provide cover for any legal costs and expenses associated with your defence. Subject to terms and conditions.

We understand you may be recommending and selling products as part of your business. As such you could be held legally liable if there is a defect in a product that causes injury or harm to a third party. Liability could attach to you even if you are not responsible for manufacturing the product. This element of the insurance policy will provide cover for any damages awarded and will provide cover for any legal costs and expenses associated with your defence. Subject to terms and conditions.

This is an important element of the insurance package we offer and arrange. Some important areas of insurance cover are; Cover for legal defence costs against criminal allegations, Pre-disciplinary and Disciplinary Hearings cover, Jury service and court attendance cover tax protection cover relating to a tax enquiry, an employer compliance dispute and/or VAT dispute, Unlimited access to legal and tax helplines and a Counselling service.

This aspect of the insurance package we offer has an insurance limit of liability of £100,000 per claim.

The options for limit of indemnity (limit of liability/payment for a potential claim or incident) for the Professional Liability/Malpractice and Public Liability section under the insurance policy are £4,000,000 or £6,000,000 for any one claim in the year.  If you require a higher limit, please contact us.

With regards to the Product Liability element of insurance cover this is the same level of the above sections of cover, however, it is in the aggregate (total amount of liability a claim pay in any one year), this is also subject to terms and conditions.

Yes, there are several policy terms and conditions you must adhere to for the policy to respond in the event of a claim or potential incident.

The insurance policy Schedule will include any policy conditions and endorsements that are specific to your insurance policy. You must read, understand, and comply with these for your policy to respond in the event of a claim or potential incident.

There are a number of general conditions, exclusions and endorsements that are included in the insurance policy wording. It is important for you to refer to these for full information, these are highlighted in the key points document: www.balens.co.uk/BalensKeyPointsDocumentCombinedLiability.pdf

Providing you are ordinarily domiciled in the UK, the policy will insure you to temporarily practice overseas. The policy will provide insurance cover for you to work outside of the UK temporarily providing you return to the UK within the valid period of the insurance policy. The insurance policy does not include trips to the USA, Canada or any territory under their jurisdiction. If this cover is required, please contact us for further guidance.

Yes, this insurance policy will provide insurance cover for you to provide advice or consultations online providing you are working within the territorial limits. The insurance policy will not provide insurance cover for you to work with clients based in the USA or Canada as standard. If this is required, please contact us.

Please note insurance cover is subject to compliance with the record keeping condition, this can be found in your policy wording, page 35, point 2 - www.balens.co.uk/Zurich/CombinedLiabilityPW.pdf.

If you are selling or supplying products to clients based in the USA or Canada, please contact us for guidance.

Yes, the insurance policy will provide insurance cover for you to teach and train in the activities you are insured to practice. However, if you are training and are personally responsible for delivering a qualification or certificate of competency then you may need additional insurance cover. Please contact us for further guidance.

The policy does include training where you are responsible for delivering a qualification in Healing and Reiki under the standard terms and conditions.

Yes, providing you notify us of the activity you are a student in, and we accept this, the insurance policy will provide insurance cover for case studies and any other work you provide prior to gaining your qualification.

Importantly, insurance cover is subject to compliance with the following policy condition found in the insurance policy wording on page 24, point 6 - www.balens.co.uk/Zurich/CombinedLiabilityPW.pdf.

Providing your qualification includes working with children, the insurance policy will provide cover for this. Some activities/therapies may require you to undertake additional, bespoke training to work with children. If this is the case, then we would require you to provide us with evidence of this training.

When working with children (under the age of 16) it is an insurance policy requirement for you to obtain written consent from a parent or guardian prior to the treatment/session. Record keeping requirements also need to be adhered to, please refer to the full insurance policy wording at - www.balens.co.uk/Zurich/CombinedLiabilityPW.pdf.

We do not have a list of approved qualifications acceptable for the arrangement of the insurance policy, this is due to the large range of activities and therapies the insurance policy can cover. All qualifications will need to be checked by ourselves prior to inception of insurance cover to ensure they meet the underwriting criteria of the insurer, thus ensuring you are correctly insured in the event of a claim or potential incident.

We suggest where possible the training/course includes some face-to-face/in person training, completion of assessed case studies and a final competency assessment carried out by the course tutor.

Please note where your qualifications have been taken online, we may ask you some additional questions about your training prior to acceptance of your application. Also if you qualifications have been obtained outside of the UK we may ask for additional information and a translation of any qualification documentation.

The quickest and simplest way is to use our Quote and Buy system on our website – simply click here.

Alternatively and if you are unable to use the Quote and Buy system, you can visit our website (www.balens.co.uk) and complete the ‘Quote’ contact form under the ‘Individuals’ section. You can also email us on info@balens.co.uk or you can call us on 01684 580771.

In order to supply an insurance quotation by email or post, we would require the following information from you in the initial correspondence: your name and where relevant, your business name or trade name, confirmation you require insurance cover as a sole trader or individual practitioner, the country where you and your business are ordinarily domiciled, the activities you practice and whether you are a member of any professional associations or training schools.

If you are a member of an association that we offer an Affinity insurance scheme with, you will be eligible for a discounted insurance premium via their scheme. The insurance cover offered by the insurance policy will be exactly the same as the Balens Affinity Scheme, it is just the premium will differ.

You will receive an email from Balens that summarises the insurance cover on offer along with information on how to apply for insurance cover. The email has the following documents attached: declaration form, key points document and our terms of business.

If you would like to apply for insurance cover and you are unable to use the Quote and Buy system on our website, we would need you to complete the declaration form and return it to us by email along with copies of your qualifications.

If you are a student, we understand that you will not have qualifications yet so please just return the completed declaration form. We are happy for the declaration form to be completed electronically and as this is a PDF document, this can be done using PDF editing software. Alternatively, you can print the declaration document, complete by hand and return by email either as a scanned image or as a photo attachment. If you would prefer for the declaration form and supporting information to be posted out to you, please provide us with your address and we can send this to you free of charge.

If applying via our Quote and Buy system, you will be able to complete the process and pay online and will receive your Insurance documentation via email straight away. 

If applying via any other method, once you have submitted your completed declaration form, it can take us between 3 – 5 working days to process the insurance application and contact you for payment. We work through insurance applications in date order and will be in contact as soon as we can. Providing all questions have been answered favourably and the qualifications meet our requirements, we will be holding insurance cover in place from the date the completed application form and qualifications are  received in the office (unless you have requested a specific insurance cover date in the future).

If you have an online account with us, you will be able to log in and make changes to your contact information and address. Alternatively, you can email us on info@balens.co.uk to confirm the updated details. If you wish to make a change to your name, we will need to see official documentation such as a marriage certificate or change of name deed and we are happy for this to be emailed to us.

In order to add an activity/therapy onto your insurance policy, we would just need you to email us a copy of your additional qualification (info@balens.co.uk). We would then review the qualification to see if it meets the insurers underwriter’s requirements and would inform you whether we require an additional premium to include this. If an additional premium is required, the insurance upgrade to your insurance policy would be calculated on a pro rata basis.

If you need to notify us of a change to your business, please either call us on 01684 580771 or email us on info@balens.co.uk. We will then be able to discuss this with you and provide guidance on the most appropriate action moving forward.

Once your insurance application has been processed, a member of the team will call you to confirm that the policy is ready for payment and will advise you of the payment options available. Payment can be made through our secure online payment portal, by bank transfer or over the phone by credit/debit card. Please note, we do not currently accept payment with American Express.

We will send your insurance renewal invitation out to you by email approximately 4 weeks prior to your renewal date. If you do not have an email address on file, we will post the renewal documents. The renewal invitation is followed by two reminder emails; one is sent before the renewal is due and the second is sent shortly after the policy has expired.

Your renewal pack will include the following documentation: Insurance Renewal Invitation, Affinities Renewal Guide, Direct Debit Affordability Questionnaire, Monthly Direct Debit Information Pack & our Terms of Business.

The majority of insurance policies can be renewed online (https://secure.balens.co.uk/) or through our automated telephone service (01684 580 795). If you are insured via an Affinity Scheme that is not compatible for these options or if you pay by monthly direct debit, or you have an ongoing claim or potential incident you will be unable to renew using these methods. Alternative options include, renewing over the phone with our team on 01684 580771 or completing and returning the insurance renewal forms by email (info@balens.co.uk) or post.

We have two direct debit options; monthly direct debit or annual direct debit. If you would like to pay by monthly direct debit, this would mean the payments are spread over 10 monthly instalments with 0% interest. If you wish to pay by annual direct debit, the premium would be paid in full each year and the policy would automatically renew. 

To set up a monthly direct debit, we would need you to complete and return your insurance renewal invitation, direct debit affordability questionnaire and direct debit mandate. 

To set up an annual direct debit, we would need you to complete and return your insurance renewal invitation and direct debit mandate.

Please complete and return your insurance renewal declaration form. If you wish to include cover for another activity, you will need to forward a copy of your qualification with your completed insurance renewal declaration and we can then add cover if your qualification meets insurers underwriting requirements. If you wish to remove insurance cover for an activity, please cross out the activity on the insurance renewal declaration form and we can action this for you with effect from the insurance renewal date.

You can contact us by email (info@balens.co.uk), by phone (01684 580771) or via the contact forms on our website (www.balens.co.uk).

You can also write to us at Bridge House, Portland Road, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 2TA.

If you wish to cancel your insurance policy, please email us (info@balens.co.uk) as we require the cancellation request in writing. Please confirm the reason for the cancellation along with confirmation of the date you wish to cancel your insurance from. We will then calculate the cancellation on a pro rata basis and advise whether there is any refund due. Please note some policies may be charged a cancellation fee, details of this can be found in our Terms of Business document.

Remember in the future we will be happy to offer you insurance quotations, so please do not hesitate to contact us. It is important to note, once as insurance policy is cancelled then the appropriate insurance cover will no longer be in place. 

In this event, please contact us, preferably by email to Claims@balens.co.uk. We will support you to understand the allegation/situation and get all the relevant information together for insurers. In this scenario, it is important you do not admit liability. Please refer to your policy document for full claims conditions.

The Affinities insurance policy will only provide cover for claims or allegations that are raised against you or your business noted on the insurance schedule for the work carried out by you. This insurance policy provides individual insurance cover for you only so if you set up a business with multiple directors or practitioners, or if you work in a formal partnership with another practitioner under a business name, it is likely you will need additional insurance cover. If this applies to you or your business, please contact Balens for further guidance.

The Affinity insurance policy offered and arranged by Balens does not include cover for Employers' Liability. Employers' liability is compulsory in the UK if you or your business have any employees or if you take on temporary staff, work experience or volunteers. This type of insurance protects against claims made against your business should an employee become ill or injured as a result of working for your business.

If you do have employees or if you do take on volunteers or work experience placements, please contact Balens for further information.