Volunteer Insurance

Background
The Council wants all of the Friends activities and events to be successful and safe.  To that end, there are a number of processes that we need to adhere to ensure that this happens, for example, completing a risk assessment prior to each event, the provision of liability insurance, obtaining licences, etc.

In terms of insurance there two different types of activity and/or event:

• Work sessions, litter picking, conservation tasks, bulb planting, etc. – activities that enhance the landscape of a park or green space.  While participating in this type of activity the Council deem volunteers (Friends) as unpaid employees, so the Friends and their actions are covered by the Council Public Liability insurance policy.
• Events (e.g. concerts, fetes, picnics, etc.) – activities that primarily entertain.  When the Friends initiate an event or activity, as the organiser, it is their responsibility to ensure the event or activity is planned and executed within park and green space regulation. The Friends will need to obtain relevant permissions, licences and insurance.

There are a number of definitions and clauses relating to insurance of which every group should be aware.  In very simplistic terms, when working as part of a work session under the supervision, guidance, instruction or approval of an officer of the Council, Friends are seen as employees and are thereby covered by the Borough's Employers Liability and Public Liability policies.

Events and/or activities that are initiated and/or organised by a Friends Group are their responsibility to insure.  As individual event insurance can be prohibitively expensive, the Friends Forum holds a basic Public Liability policy which every member group of the Forum can avail themselves of, provided the event is logged with and approved by the Council and they are a registered Friends Group member of Forum.

For additional reading on both the work session and events insurance please click here.  For Terms and Conditions of the Borough's Employers Liability and Public Liability Insurance please click here.  For Terms and Conditions of the Forum's Public Liability Insurance please click here.

Public liability
For all activities such as conservation work, litter clearance and planting, where Friends are acting under instruction from London Borough of Bromley, then the Friends are covered by the Borough's public liability insurance.  For example, if a Friend caused damage or injury to a third party that subsequently gave rise to a claim, then the insurance policy would deal with the matter.

LBB's public liability insurance policy does not cover non Council events or activities that Friends groups organise and promote themselves, such as a fete or music event. In these circumstances the Friends must avail themselves of the Friends Forum public liability insurance. It should be noted that this provides only a basic level of cover and the event itself must conform to certain defined criteria (i.e. low risk event and no more than 500 attendees).  Should more extreme cover be required then the Friends would need to source their own public liability insurance.

Employer liability
Employer's liability covers loss or damage to employees (be they paid or not) where the employer has been negligent in causing the loss or damage.

Personal accident
A volunteer (Friend) has no automatic entitlement to any form of benefit in the event of suffering an accident and the only remedy is a claim, perhaps through the courts, against the negligent party. This assumes that someone other than the volunteer (Friend) was to blame.

Still unsure?
If you have a specific question about LBB insurance cover please contact your Parks Partnership Officer who will attempt to clairify the situation as quickly as possible with the insurance team.

An example

The Friends of Jubilee Country Park give guided walks and talks to members of their group and the public through their park. The talks cover subjects such as flora and forna, the management and care of the parkland and wildlife habitat, history of the site, etc.

Although the Friends are assisting LBB by expanding an otherwise restricted service, this walk is not classed as a core activity of the Council.  It is considered an event organised by the Friends Group and as such the person(s) leading the walk are covered by the Friends Forum insurance policies, provided it has been pre-registered and approved with the Council.