Does your school have the right insurance?

There are now very limited insurance options for Australian schools

The insurance market for Australian schools has been reduced to only two competitors after Catholic Church Insurance’s (CCI) recent decision to enter a Scheme of Arrangement. This lack of choice and the dramatic increase in the cost of insurance for schools in recent years has produced a significant challenge for many schools. Accessing affordable insurance as well as having the systems and processes to ensure the right amount of insurance is being purchased are causing material governance concerns across the Australian education sector.

Does your school have the right insurance? – So What should Australian schools be doing?

Australian schools should be developing their systems and processes to ensure:

• • Their insurance arrangements are a good match for their risks.
  • Their deductibles (excesses) are within the risk appetite of their Board or Council.
  • The declarations provided to insurers are supported by insurance valuations.
  • Insurance policy limits are supported by documented scenarios.
  • Insurance brokers have an appropriate service level agreement.
  • They understand their potential exposure to the CCI Scheme of Arrangement and they have a provision on their balance sheet to recognise this exposure.
  • They have explored all alternatives in the insurance market including the emerging competitors.

How Risk Advisory Services can help your School

Risk Advisory Services (RAS) is an independent risk and insurance services provider owned by our employees. RAS has been operating for 16 years as a pure advocate for the insured, where we do not earn any commission or other undisclosed revenue from insurers. RAS has historically focussed on large organisations and has clients that include many members of the ASX 200, State and Federal Governments as well as large private equity firms but in recent years RAS has expanded to include smaller organisations including many schools and universities.

So if you are curious about does your school have the right insurance, then RAS can help schools to improve their insurance infrastructure and reduce their reliance on the two brokers who dominate the provision of insurance broking services in Australia.

Author: Tony Cope
Sept 2023