News

Fears that hundreds of children’s homes could close because insurance companies are refusing to offer cover were sparked after a private provider was just 24 hours from closing all four of its homes because it could not get public liability cover, writes Sally Gillen.

Tony Harris, director of SES Care Ltd, which runs homes for some of the country’s most vulnerable young people, including those on secure orders, was preparing to close the homes because insurers said they were no longer taking "high risk" contracts.

But they were saved after a last-minute u-turn by the company’s original insurers, which decided not to terminate the contract because Harris had run homes for 25 years without any problems.

Harris said: "It was definitely touch and go and we are really angry about it." He added that his unblemished record had persuaded the insurance company to renew their contract, but he predicted that homes which did not have such a good record would have difficulty getting insurance.

In the last fortnight he said he had spoken to around 30 private providers, one of which was a national company with 50 homes, which was experiencing the same problems.

Joan Jerrett, secretary for the National Association of Independent Resources for Children, said: "We have received a lot of calls from people who have been having trouble getting insurance. We have been especially busy over the last few weeks because many homes’ policies are up for renewal."

One member was given 10 days’ notice by her insurance company that it intended to end its contract and "although she eventually found a company, it was a bit hairy" said Jerrett.

Later this month NAIRC plan to address the problem at a board meeting.

The providers now aim to set up a consortium to tackle the problem and are expecting the National Care Standards Commission to take action on their behalf.

But a spokesperson for the commission said that although they were aware of cases where providers had had problems getting insurance, they did not yet view it as a serious problem.