A reminder of information and advice for churches that are left open during the day, including implications for your insurance.

We have attached a Security Fact Sheet from Concordia Insurance and a link to a video  on preventing arson in Church buildings. You may like to review this as part of your local health and safety agendas.

Frequently asked questions

(Please contact the Registrar if you have a question you would like to be answered and we will update this section)

Our church is open for visitors, but we have a variety of valuable items as part of the fabric. Could our being open compromise our insurance status?Do our insurers need to know about this?

Answer: The Anglican Insurance Board (AIB) have advised us: Insurers will want to see the churches policy/ risk assessment which should include things like:

• How isolated?/ when unattended?

• Only open in daylight hours?

• Local residents or parishioners are aware/ pop in to check etc?

• Valuables securely stored?

• Does your church have camera’s and registers?

• All premises/ areas open to the public should present no danger to the public - are there any hazards that could be a problem?

In general, the insurers want to know that you are taking “reasonable precautions” – you should look at the above bullet points as well as the Concordia document below and complete a “risk assessment - action plan" (see Section 12b: Risk Management Assessment Chart on the website that can give you a template for this and other assessments you may want to carry out). This will be evidence  that you have taken the right precautions. If you want to give a copy of the risk assessment to the Diocesan Office, we will keep that on file for you as well.

Another useful Loss Prevention Checklist that can help document your risk assessment is the All Churches Loss Prevention Checklist (attached below). 

What happens if we think we have a "rough sleeper" who may attempt to stay in the church overnight... and might we need to adjust our premiums accordingly?? 

Answer: This probably just comes under the general risk of leaving it unlocked – so it comes back to what “reasonable precautions” you are taking. You do need to ensure that the building is empty before locking up at the end of the day, but if you are not locking it... what reasonable precautions are you taking to ensure it is not being slept in? 

In terms of premium adjustments, it depends on whether you decide to actually notify the insurers. In this particular scenario we have confirmed that insurers don't have to be specifically notified, it is sufficient that you are taking “reasonable precautions”. There is some risk with this approach i.e. if something bad were to happen and you made a claim, the insurers might conclude that in fact you were not taking “reasonable precautions”. You have to weigh up that risk against the possibility that you specifically advise the insurers that the door is left open and they increase your premium – unfortunately this is not the sort of thing we can get a quote on.

Have a look at a video we have around risk of arson in churches and how take reasonable measures to reduce this risk.