Business interruption claims and the Industry Test Case

Latest update: May 12th 2021

Hiscox was one of eight insurers to participate in the FCA's Test Case to seek clarity about the application of certain non-damage business interruption policy wordings to losses resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. You can view our Test Case outcome summary for Hiscox policies here.

In line with the Supreme Court Judgment of 15 January, Hiscox is processing and paying claims as quickly as possible.

If you are a business interruption customer, you can find more information about our claims process and what to expect in the video below. Alternatively, you can view our frequently asked questions at the bottom of this page.

Making a Covid-19 business interruption claim

If you need to speak to us, you can also reach us via our dedicated business interruption phoneline, 01206 773 941, which is open 0900 - 1730 / Monday to Friday.

Frequently asked questions

If you wish to submit a claim now, you can do so via our dedicated business interruption claims portal: claims.hiscox.co.uk.

To submit a claim, you will need the following information to hand:

  • Hiscox policy number;
  • Insured premises address and postcode.

Please note you will need to submit a separate claim for each lockdown period. If you notified us about a claim before the portal was available and you still wish to pursue it, registration through the portal will now be the quickest and most efficient way to progress your claim.

If you are unable to use the portal, are experiencing technical issues or require any further assistance, we have also set up a dedicated business interruption phoneline, 01206 773 941, which is open 0900 - 1730 / Monday to Friday.

We are working hard to assess and pay claims in line with the Supreme Court Judgment, and specific policy wordings, as quickly as possible. We are currently receiving higher than usual claims notifications, so it might take us longer than usual to complete our initial assessment of your claim.

If you have received a reply that you're not happy with, or a settlement offer that you wish to reject, you can discuss it with a member of our claims team. You can do this through the Hiscox contact you have been liaising with during your claims journey, or alternatively through our dedicated business interruption phoneline, 01206 773 941, which is open 0900 - 1730 / Monday to Friday.

There are four stages to the claims process:

  1. registering a claim and completing an initial eligibility assessment
  2. submitting the relevant financial information
  3. completing the claims assessment process
  4. offer stage

You will receive periodic updates that indicate which stage of the process your claim has reached. These updates will include the outcome of your initial eligibility assessment, when the full claims assessment is in process, when a settlement offer is ready for you to review and when an interim or final payment has been made. Business interruption claims are particularly complex claims, so it may be that we need to discuss your claim with you at various points in the process too.

Business interruption claims are particularly complex claims. Each business is unique and it takes individual attention from experienced loss adjusters, accountants and claims professionals to review each claim. It often takes a number of conversations with our customers for us get all of the information we need, and for our loss adjusters to interpret it correctly, which all takes time. Progressing with, and paying all valid business claims is our top priority and we have hundreds of claims experts dedicated to doing this as quickly as possible.

We are working hard to process claims as quickly as possible for customers. To facilitate this, we have set up a dedicated claims portal where customers can notify us of a claim and upload their supporting information which is the quickest and most convenient way for them to raise a business interruption claim with us. We have also added more people to our claims teams and have hundreds of claims handlers focused on this.

The portal is the easiest and quickest way to register and progress a claim, so we recommend it in most cases. If further assistance is required, or if for any other reason you are unable to use the portal or the link provided, please call us on 01206 773 941 or email [email protected].

In June 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) commenced Court proceedings to seek clarity about the application of certain non-damage business interruption policy wordings to losses resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Hiscox was one of eight insurers that had some of its business interruption policy wording considered by the Court as part of the Industry Test Case.

Following the Judgment handed down by the High Court in September, permission to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted to the FCA, a policyholder group and six insurers, including Hiscox.

On 15 January 2021, the Supreme Court handed down its Judgment, comprising more than 100 pages of legal analysis. The full Judgment is available to view at on the Supreme Court's website .

In addition to the above, you can find more information about the information the Industry Test Case on the FCA's business interruption page. You can also view our Test Case Outcome Summary for Hiscox Policies here.