Authored by Anna Bennett, QBE Director of Underwriting, UK Casualty
QBE has this week launched a new Contractors Combined product to meet the specific needs of the mid-market contracting sector.
This new one-stop mid-market product builds on our well established monoline offering and is a natural follow-on from our e-trade Contractors Combined product for the SME market.
Why launch a Contractors Combined product?
Construction is one of the largest industry sectors in the UK, employing 3.1 million people or around 10% of the workforce. It’s an industry that QBE understands incredibly well. Two thirds of the UK’s leading construction firms rely on us for market-leading cross-class insurance solutions.
Throughout very challenging market conditions, both pre and post Covid, that have seen firms struggling with supply chain issues, site closures, uncertainty, reduced turnovers and cashflow worries, our focus has been on providing much-needed stability and helping customers in an industry that plays a vital role in the UK economy to bounce back.
For some years now, we’ve had a well-established monoline offering for larger contracting risks, together with a Contractors Combined policy for the SME market, which is e-traded via Acturis and our FastFlow extranet - in fact we were the first insurer to bring Contractors Combined to e-trade.
Until now, we’ve had a bit of a gap in servicing the mid-market. This new product closes that gap and builds on strong foundations to offer a wide range of policy covers tailored to customers’ needs. We feel that our market credentials and broad appetite puts us in a strong place to work proactively with brokers to write new business at a time when some other insurers have restricted appetite or are taking remedial action on their renewal portfolios.
Target market
Our premium acceptance range for this product is £15,000-£100,000, which we feel should accommodate businesses with up to £50 million turnover, mainly in lower hazard trades. There’s room for flexibility though and we’re happy to review individual cases, so please talk to us.
Risk management and mental health support
An area that I feel is a real strength for QBE is risk management.
Through our in-house Risk Solutions team, customers buying the Contractors Combined policy have unlimited access to specialist risk management support designed to help prevent workplace injury and ill health, protect the public, reduce product liability exposure and prevent damage to third-party property. Support includes health and safety e-learning in partnership with RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).
Mental health and wellbeing are big challenges in the construction sector, where suicide rates are three times the national average. More broadly, mental health issues are the single biggest cause of workdays lost in the UK and cost businesses up to £45 billion a year in lost revenues. To help our customers meet the challenge, we’ve collaborated with Mind and other mental health providers to launch a new organisational mental health self-assessment optimisation tool that’s unique in the insurance market.
More information
You’ll find a product information sheet and other useful material on our website HERE and please speak with your local QBE account manager or underwriter for more information.
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