For organisations supporting children and young people, insurance is often a complex area. For a provider to be able to offer children and young people all the lifestyle experiences they have a right to enjoy, it's essential for a suitable insurance policy to be in place and for this to be regularly reviewed. Unfortunately, some insurance packages with policy gaps are common, presenting real challenges to delivering experiences, such as days out and trips.
To help CHA members access the right support with insurance, we have appointed Birkdale as a trusted partner, who support our vision for exemplary residential childcare as an Official CHA Sponsor and share their expertise and advice with our members.
Birkdale Insurance Group specialises in children's Residential Care Sector insurance, providing the very best protection for young people, the team and the care setting. Birkdale have been appointed as CHA’s Approved Insurance Provider and look forward to the opportunity to assist CHA’s members. We'd like to thank Birkdale for their support.
Birkdale's experienced and friendly team work closely with the leading insurers in the sector to offer the best possible provision. The service includes expert advice to ensure that the coverage is appropriate and tailored to the particular care setting ensuring the best possible premium. Birkdale also pays particular attention to the small print to make sure that the cover doesn’t restrict the provision of crucial lifestyle experiences that children outside the care system take for granted.
Birkdale recently supported Woodlands Ltd in Wrexham which has provided specialist care for young people for 25 years. Woodlands had been engaged with its former insurance broker for over 20 years but was finding the cover provided increasingly restrictive. Birkdale’s Managing Director Caroline Munnelly, took the time to visit the six main sites of provision, including a school setting where she sat in some of the lessons to get a real understanding of the level of care provided. Caroline then worked with the insurer to remove some of the exclusions on the existing policy, which meant that the children could take part in a much wider range of activities. Birkdale also saved the business over £10,000 in the first year. The cover improved dramatically and was more responsive and appropriate for the business, with the premium becoming more competitive. The Birkdale team also now insures the fleet vehicles for the Woodlands business which includes over 20 vehicles.
“We have a passion for the industry and have worked hard to develop a real understanding of the issues in providing excellent child care in today’s environment. We have built strong relationships with insurers over many years and are not afraid to make challenges to policy details which do not serve our clients. As the broker, we continually strive to champion the needs of our care home clients and their young charges.
“We take the time to listen and ensure we match the policy with the needs of the individual setting and the care it provides. Cover can also evolve and we are experts at helping to check the small print and have exclusions removed from policies based on individual risk assessments. There is never a one size fits all approach.”