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Law360, London (December 11, 2020, 2:36 PM GMT ) An insurance-industry led campaign has called on the government to underwrite cover for live events in a bid to restart a sector left devastated by lockdown orders put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19.
The so-called Let LIVE Thrive campaign, which was jointly created by EC3 Brokers, said in a letter Thursday that the government should provide cancellation insurance for live events next year, or else see many businesses go to the wall.
It comes as pressure mounts on the government to approve the formation of a state-backed pandemic reinsurer, in a bid to plug gaps in cover as insurers introduce sweeping policy exclusions over COVID-19.
"Unsurprisingly, the threat from coronavirus has decimated the viability of the contingency insurance market for insurers, meaning that event organizers are unable to access COVID[-19]-specific cover," the letter said.
"Without this insurance, major regional and local live events across the U.K. will not go ahead in 2021," it added.
The letter, to Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Oliver Dowden, was also signed by several MPs, peers and sporting association executives.
It said the problem is particularly pressing, as policies for next year are currently being drawn up. It called for the government to step in and "underwrite a COVID-19 contingency insurance product" in order to allow events to go ahead.
The government rolled out in October a £500 million ($650 million) insurance scheme for film and TV productions that were put on hold because of a lack of insurance. Under the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, the government will effectively provide commercial insurance cover, guarding the sector against delays or cancellation as a result of COVID-19.
In a parliamentary debate Thursday, a junior minister in the department, Caroline Dinenage said it was up to the live music industry to prove that insurance was as critical for it as it had been shown to be for the film and TV production sector.
"It is something we are looking at very carefully, but the key is for the industry to build an evidence base that demonstrates that insurance coverage is the only barrier to events being able to take place," she added.
A spokesperson for the department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said the government had already issued a recovery package for the sector. "We know these are challenging times for the live events sector and are working flat out to support it," the spokesperson added.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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