COMMENTS ON NAS INSURANCE
PROPOSALS
The following comments refer to the NAS (National Allotment
Society) proposal to offer a personal liability insurance to members as part of
the membership fee. As we understand it this would cover a member / plot-holder
in the event that someone goes onto their plot (whether invited or not) and
sustains harm or injury – the classic case referred to by the Regional Mentor
of a child running onto your plot and falling though a cold frame and cutting
himself / herself followed by the plot-holder being sued.
The interim comments (as
presented to the meeting on 09/04/2018) are as follows:
Martyn Swain, acting on behalf of abas, contacted NAS with
regards to the plot-holders’ Liability Insurance. His initial contact was
unable to provide the information he asked for but promised to call back. He
did receive a further call.
In essence, the insurance is OPTIONAL. If insured with a
third party (not Shield) the member is still covered if opted in
Martyn asked for full policy T&C wording. This is yet to
be received and this would shed light on who the underwriter is on this
particular amendment.
His view is it makes absolutely no sense for an “added
benefit” to be excluded from an independently sourced policy (insured by Shield,
yet not through NAS). He suspects that upon renewal, this inclusion will be
listed on all policies.
He wonders if NAS are using it as a means to state “better
off with us using Shield” as opposed to a competitor, thus reinforcing the
position of Shield as the NAS preferred choice of insurer for ALL allotment
societies.
Until the full Policy Wording is received, Martyn is unable
to make a judgement as to any potential benefits compared with the “old”
policy.
However, based on Insurance Standard Practice, he feels that
the only legitimate benefit of “opting in” to this “optional extra” that he can
currently identify is the cover whilst attending events etc. He is sceptical as
to the chances of getting a claim though on that one (an immense number of
obstructions and counter-claim options can be used by the insurer). He reminds
members that basically the insurer is not your friend. They are a business … if
they can get out of paying they will!
Member to Member
Aspects
When signing up to the optional cover, a full list of “plot-holder’s”
details are required to insure each individual. “If the name ain’t on the list
you ain’t covered”. (Abas questions here
– Do they mean only those plot-holders who are members of the Society taking
out the insurance? How will lists be updated during the year as members leave
and new members come onto the site?)This includes details of names, addresses, contact numbers etc.
Main concern of Abas (as expressed at the March 2018
meeting) is the new DATA Protection Guidelines (as understood by Bolton MBC).
Bolton MBC have stated that any contact details that they supply to the
Society’s officers (e.g. through the
updated waiting list information) are “Strictly Confidential” and are not
to be shared with any other parties. The
Council is considering requiring OMA societies to nominate an officer to
receive the data who will accept responsibility for ensuring that it will be
used for no other purpose.
NAS stated that no details (given to them as part of “opting in”) will be passed to any 3rd
party outside of the triangle which consists of Society / NAS / insurer (this has yet to be confirmed in writing).
The NAS view is that a society is made up of individuals who
CHOOSE to pay a subscription to join. This makes any PAID-UP members of a
Society (which is independent of the
Council) effectively a member of a Private Club.
If members of a Private Club have supplied their contact
details to the Club’s Officers for purposes of contact then the data liability
moves from the Council to the Society as the details have been supplied
willingly. We are advised that there are no issues with DATA protection – so
long as;1) When a member pays their annual subscription they sign a form which states that they are willing for the society to hold their contact details and stating the purposes for which that data may be used
2) Whenever the Society communicates by email or letter to a member they state at the bottom of that letter that the member is receiving the communication because they signed the above form and giving them the option of unsubscribing from the circulation list of such communications.
Points 1 and 2 above
concur with the advice given by Abas in the March 2018 minutes. Given that the
data referred to has been willingly given and obtained separately from any data
supplied through the Council’s systems we believe the NAS’ view to be
correct. Note that the Society is responsible for data security.
Concern arose because
of a laxity of wording by the NAS – in their public utterances they have simply
used the term “plot-holder” rather than “member” or “plot-holding member”. Some
secretaries interpreted this as meaning that the names and contact details of
all plot-holders, (or tenants as BMBC would call them) whether or not members
of the society, need to be supplied. We understand that this was not what was
meant but would prefer to see a clearer wording used.
Since this form of
plot-holder insurance is often the basic block of the insurance packages
from insurance firms which Bolton Societies use, Abas would wish to enquire
whether such packages allow the possibility of buying e.g. Society Public
Liability, Product Liability, Trustees Liability etc. without also paying for
this plot-holder level as part of the premium. We would advise Society
Treasurers to carefully check what cover they need and look into how premiums
are calculated.
This provisional / interim report has been prepared with the
assistance of Martyn Swain of Rawlyn Road Allotment Society. We would like to
thank him for his time and expertise.
He has agreed to assist in compiling a full report on the
matters surrounding the proposal once the Policy Wording has been received from
NAS / Shield. That final report will
form Abas’ firm advice on the matter. Until then the advice is to hold off
opting in – you never had it, so you won’t miss it.
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