Back in March 2020 the DfE published their information on how to join the RPA scheme, with maintained schools firmly in mind for joining. Then came the pandemic!
Little did we know at the time how important insurance would become. Wave after wave of school trips were cancelled, many non-refundable. Supply insurance policies were not paying out because of the national lockdown. The insurance market changed overnight.
With the RPA scheme being made available to maintained schools from April 2020 we have produced a checklist for SBMs to use:
- Check your existing policy against the RPA scheme. Quite often the RPA scheme covers more areas.
- For schools with nurseries, these numbers will also be taken in to consideration when calculating the quote.
- Check with your Local Authority what the notice period is (normally one month but some as long as 3 months). There is a possibility the LA policies could increase more than usual if less schools buy in.
- Do you require additional cover for online learning (cyber risks)?
- For academies, has the independent internal scrutiny raised any concerns about any areas of risk which may require cover?
Our advice at drb is at the very minimum, obtain a quote from the RPA scheme, and secondly, consider any additional cover you may need.
