Making a claim

To make sure you’re up to speed with how your insurance works and what you’re covered for, read over your policy wording before starting a claim. Most claims will involve the payment of an excess which will be detailed in your documents.

For most policies, you can view your policy documents online through your customer account. Otherwise, please take a look at the documents we emailed to you when you bought your policy or made a change to your cover – one of these will contain your policy wording.

Insurance excess is an amount you have to pay towards the total cost of a claim. For example, you have a public liability insurance policy with an excess of £300. You want to claim £2,000 to cover the cost of accidental damage caused by your business. If the claim is accepted, you’d pay £300 and your insurer would pay £1,700 to cover the rest of the cost. 

An excess is usually pre-agreed when you buy your policy and you typically have to pay an excess for each claim you make. 

If the total cost of the claim is less than your excess, then you won’t be able to make a claim. 

Usually, you’ll need to pay your excess at the start of the claims process. However, in some cases, the insurer may deduct the cost of the excess from the final claim amount you receive.

Depending on the circumstances of the claim you may need to provide supporting documents, such as receipts, photographs for damaged areas, or videos if possible.

Completing our online claims form can save you time – it means we have the initial information and can get to work.

The claims team will then give you a call within two days from submitting the form. Remember to keep supporting documents close to hand.

If you need to make a claim in an emergency, call our claims team at Sedgwick directly.

This can vary based on the complexity of the claim itself, but our aim is to progress your claim as swiftly as possible. The quicker you send us the information we need, the sooner we can process the claim. 

There may be several parties involved in your claim, including professional claims handlers and loss adjusters. Claims handlers manage your claim from start to finish, while loss adjusters assess the amount you’re claiming for. 

To keep you updated on the progress of your claim, we’ll be sure to contact you at regular intervals, giving you the opportunity to ask any questions. You can also check its progress using our claims tracker.

Most payments (either BACs or CHAPS) will be made within 24 hours of a settlement. Should repair work be required, you can either use a supplier appointed by your insurer or a contractor of your choice.

Should you decide to use a supplier appointed by your insurer, they will carry out a cost schedule to agree the claim value before carrying out the work. You’ll usually be required to pay the excess to the contractor and then organise a time for the work to be completed. In this situation, you won’t receive a settlement.

If you use a contractor of your choice, you’ll receive a settlement which you can use to pay for the work to be completed.