Terms of Business
Academy Insurance Services Limited
We are a regulated independent intermediary representing a
number of insurers. We pride ourselves on providing a
personal and professional service and we are
confident that you will enjoy doing business with us. We
provide insurance policies for most insurable risks and we
would welcome the opportunity to provide free no obligation
quotations for all your insurance needs.
Who regulates us?
The FCA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial
services. It requires us to give you this document. Please use
this document to decide if our services are right for you.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Academy Insurance Services Ltd is authorised and regulated by
the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is
307142.
Our permitted business is:
- Advising customers on non-investment contracts
This includes recommending a specific insurance policy.
- Arranging (bringing about) deals in non-investment insurance contracts
This covers a range of activities including introducing a customer to an insurer,
helping a customer to complete a proposal form and sending this to an insurer.
- Making arrangements with a view to transactions in noninvestment insurance contracts
This includes helping a potential policyholder to complete a
proposal form or introducing a customer to another intermediary, either for advice or to help arrange an insurance policy.
- Dealing as agent in non-investment insurance contracts
This includes entering into a contract of insurance with a customer on behalf of an insurer
(for example, issuing a Cover Note).
- Assisting in the administration and performance of a noninvestment insurance contract
This includes notifying an insurance claim to the insurer and
negotiating settlement on behalf of the customer.
- Credit Broking
We introduce those wishing to pay by instalments to firms that are able to lend money under a regulated credit agreement by way of business.
You can check the above on the FCA’s register by visiting their website www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting them on 0800 111 6768.
Our Service
We act as an Independent Broker on your behalf and our
service includes advising you on your insurance needs,
arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your
requirements and helping you with any ongoing changes you
have to make.
Products which we offer
We sell and advise on a wide range of both personal and
commercial insurance products and provide advice or
information on the basis of a fair analysis of the market from a
wide range of insurers.
Insurers
Whilst we take every care to check the financial stability of
any firm with which we place business, we cannot be held responsible
if that firm subsequently ceases to trade.
Cancellation Charges
Before you proceed to cancel any policy, we advise you to call
our offices as there may be an alternative option more
suitable to your needs. Academy apply short period rates
shown in the table below in respect of the cancellation of
policies. Under certain circumstances, for example following a
claim, there will not be a refund. This also applies to many
specialist and commercial policies such as Liability, Marine,
Classic Cars and Motorhomes.
PERIOD COVER IN FORCE
PERCENTAGE OF PREMIUM PAYABLE
Eight months or more
100%
Because insurers claw back some commission following
cancellation we make a charge which is made up of lost
commission plus an administration fee of up to £100.00.
Our Charges
We normally make the following charges to cover the
administration of your insurances:
- Mid term adjustments £25
- Renewals £25
The specific amount and purpose of any other additional
charges will always be advised to you in advance and shown in
any correspondence.
If an adjustment to a policy results in a return premium we
repay commission on the refund to your insurer and this
amount plus an administration charge of £25.00 will be
deducted from the final amount refunded to you.
Prior to the conclusion of each insurance contract, or upon
renewal, we will remind you of your right to be advised of the
level of commission which we receive from underwriters or
credit providers. You are entitled, at any time, to request
information regarding any commission which we may have
received as a result of placing your insurance business. Where
we offer premium finance facilities we may earn a commission
from the lender.
In the event that undisclosed claims or convictions are found by
insurers when carrying out their checks under the Claims and
Underwriting Exchange and Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Register,
we reserve the right to charge a minimum sum of £75 in addition
to any additional premium that may be required by the insurer in
order to cover the additional administration costs incurred.
Your Duty to Provide Information (Consumer clients)
It is your duty to take reasonable care to answer all questions
honestly and to the best of your knowledge. If you do not, your
insurance policy may be cancelled or treated as if it never existed
or your claim may be rejected or not paid in full.
It is important
that all statements you make on proposal forms claim forms and
other documents are full and accurate. If a form is completed on
your behalf, you should check that the answers shown to any of the
questions are true and accurate before signing the document.
Failure to provide requested information to your insurers could invalidate
your insurance cover and mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid.
Fair presentation of risk (Commercial clients)
The Insurance Act 2015 requires you to make adequate enquiries
within your business to identify and verify that information
relevant to the risks concerned is disclosed. This must include
knowledge of “senior management” of your business and those
involved in buying insurance (including us as brokers).
Reasonable enquiries must also be made of any relevant third parties involved
with your business, including external consultants, contractors and
anyone insured by the policy. Risk information should be clearly
seen by insurers and brokers and not masked in large amounts of
information.
You must highlight unusual activities and /or known
areas of concern that could affect risk. It is your duty to take
reasonable care to answer all questions honestly and to the best of
your knowledge and to provide complete and accurate information to
insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the
life of your policy and when you renew your insurance. If you do
not, your insurance policy may be cancelled or treated as if it
never existed or your claim may be rejected or not paid in full.
It is important that all statements you make on proposal forms claim
forms and other documents are full and accurate. If a form is
completed on your behalf, you should check that the answers shown to
any of the questions are true and accurate before signing the document.
You are advised to keep copies of correspondence or documents sent to
us. If you are in any doubt as to whether information is material,
you should disclose it. Please do consult us if you are in doubt
on any aspect.
Failure to provide requested information to your
insurers could invalidate your insurance cover and mean that part
or all of a claim may not be paid.
Premiums and Financial Aspects
In order to be able to offer you credit facilities, we are
registered under the Consumer Credit Act and our Licence
Number is 394676
We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque, cash or
any of the major debit/credit cards.
You may be able to spread your payments through insurers’
instalment schemes or a credit scheme that we have arranged
with a third party finance provider. We will give you full
information about your payment options and details of the
interest payable when we discuss your insurance in detail.
For certain types of insurance we may ask you to sign a form
granting us authority to retain documents such as Motor
Certificates until full payment has been received. In these
circumstances we will provide you with any documents that you
are required to have by law.
Under the terms of our client bank account (which has been set
up in accordance with strict rules laid down by the Financial
Conduct Authority), we are required to inform you that we may
use your individual premium to settle premiums due under
other policies (including those payable by other clients). Please
note we retain interest earned on our Client Account and by
accepting these Terms of Business you give your consent for us
to retain such interest.
We are the Agent of Insurers for the purpose of collection of
certain premiums.
For some insurance we may place business with Insurers
through another FCA authorised intermediary and in these
circumstances premiums will be transferred to that
intermediary. You will be advised if this affects your own
insurances and given details of any fees or charges made by
that intermediary.
Claims
It is essential that you notify us immediately of all incidents which may result in a claim under your insurance policy
whether you believe you are liable or not. Any letter or claim received by you must be passed to us immediately.
When we receive notification of an incident that might give rise
to a claim under your policy, we will inform the insurers
without delay and, in any event, within three working days.
We will advise you promptly of insurers’ requirements
concerning claims, including the provision, as soon as
possible, of information required to establish the nature and
extent of loss.
You should not admit liability or agree to any course of action,
other than emergency measures to minimise your loss, until
you have agreement from your insurer.
We will forward any payments received from insurers in
respect of any claim to you without delay.
We will notify you of any request for information we receive
from your insurers.
Complaints
We sincerely hope that you will not need to make a complaint
about our service. However, if you do, we wish to deal with your
problem as quickly and efficiently as possible and we advise
you to always note down the names of the staff you speak to as
this information eases investigation.
If you encounter a problem, ask to speak to the office
manager. It is extremely unlikely that the issue will not be
resolved at this point but the manager will speak to the Managing
Manager if necessary. If you prefer to put your complaint in
writing, please address your correspondence to the Office
Manager. You will receive an acknowledgement within five
working days.
If you still feel the problem has not been resolved
satisfactorily, then please write to the General Manager at the
following address. You will receive an acknowledgement within
five working days.
Mr Neil Turner, Academy House, 11 Horseshoe Park,
Horseshoe Road, Pangbourne, RG8 7JW, Telephone Number:
0118 984 1441.
We will provide a formal response within 20 working days from
initial receipt of the complaint. If the complaint cannot be
resolved within this timescale we will explain why and specify
the likely timescale for resolution.
If we cannot settle your complaint, you may be entitled to refer
it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We will advise you if
you are able to refer any complaint to the Financial
Ombudsman.
Should you have a specific complaint about an insurer, rather
than our service, we will put you in touch with the appropriate
body.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme(FSCS)
We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to
compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our
obligations. This depends on the type of business and the
circumstances of the claim.
Non-compulsory insurance advising is covered for 90% of the
claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of
insurance this increases to 100% of the claim without any
upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.
What Information we collect about you:
When you contact us for an insurance quotation we collect the relevant information needed by an insurer to calculate the premium and understand your insurance needs. We collect this information during our meetings and /or telephone conversations with you and through the completion of proposal forms and fact finds.
How your information will be used:
The information we collect will be passed to insurers to enable them to calculate a competitive insurance quotation to meet your requirements.
In order to obtain the most competitive cover it may be necessary to pass your information to other insurance intermediaries who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Information provided by you may be put onto a register of claims and shared with other insurers to prevent fraudulent claims.
Should you wish to pay your premium by instalments we may pass your information to a premium finance provider however, this will not be done without discussing payment options with you first.
We may share your information with and obtain information about you from credit reference agencies. If you require information about the credit reference agency we have received information from please do not hesitate to contact us. Please note that any searches undertaken prior to you proceeding with your application will be soft searches and will not affect your credit rating.
We will retain any information we have collected about you for up to 6 years after our professional relationship has terminated however, data held electronically may be retained for longer.
Your rights of access to your data:
You have a right to obtain a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. If you believe that any information held is incorrect or incomplete, you should contact us.
Any information that is found to be incorrect or incomplete will be amended promptly.
You also have a right to “be forgotten”, this means you can ask for the information which we hold about you to be deleted from our records but this will mean that we will be unable to continue to handle your insurance arrangements.
Applicable Law
This Terms of Business document is subject to English Law.
Academy Pricing Policy
About Our Pricing
We make every effort to ensure your policy represents good value for money for the cover it provides you with.
However, we appreciate that occasionally you may wish to compare your policy with alternative quotations. If you are we strongly suggest you follow our 3 easy
step guide to make sure you get an accurate comparison:
Step 1 - Your Circumstances
Have yours changed since your last renewal? Our quotation is based on the information we currently hold on you. If your circumstances have changed it can
affect the price you pay for your insurance, quite often in your favour.
Step 2 – Your Cover
Are you getting the same cover? Not all insurance policies are the same. It’s easy to save a few pounds but it can be at the expense of the cover you get.
Step 3 - Take Professional Advice
Use our free Renewal Comparison Service. We don’t expect you to be an expert in insurance. If you get a lower quote contact us with the details and we’ll
compare it to your existing policy. It’s a free service so what have you got to lose?
Insurance is a very competitive market with lots of companies offering hundreds of different policies. Making sure you have the right cover for your needs is
imperative so if you get a lower quote speak to us so we can make sure you’re getting the right cover for your needs.
Additional Information
To protect customers from fraud and to obtain the best possible price some insurers now carry out information only credit checks – these checks do not affect
your credit score. Please refer to our terms of business or visit www.academyinsurance.co.uk/creditcheck for full details.
Many of our policies include additional covers such as breakdown, claims assistance and key-care cover. Our household and commercial policies may also
include legal expenses cover.These are optional but in some cases by including the cover you are enjoying an extra discount on your premium, which may be
withdrawn if the extra cover is declined.
In some circumstances a minimum premium is applied to policies to enable us to provide the level of service and benefits that we consider appropriate.