By accepting these Terms of Business, you give your consent to the terms on which we will act for you and contains details of our regulatory and statutory responsibilities. Please read this document carefully and contact us immediately if there is anything in these terms of business which you do not understand or with which you disagree.
In arranging insurance for our clients, we act as an Independent Broker. Our service includes advising you on your insurance needs, arranging your insurance cover with insurers, helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make and dealing with claims. We can also issue policies on behalf of certain insurers.
Castlemead Insurance Brokers Limited of Castlemead House, St Johns Road, Bristol BS3 1AL is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a General Insurance intermediary. Our FCA Register number is 303956, which can be checked on the Financial Services Register at www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. The FCA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services including insurance. We are authorised to arrange general insurance contracts, which includes providing advice and making recommendations following an assessment of our client’s needs.
As your independent Broker we undertake a fair market analysis on your behalf through a wide range of insurance products and access to leading Insurers in the market place. We do not have holdings in any insurance company, nor does any insurance company have holdings in Castlemead Insurance Brokers Ltd.
It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to Insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy and when you renew your insurance. Failure to disclose information pertaining to your insurance, or any inaccuracies in information given, could result in your insurance policy being invalid or cover not operating fully.
It is important that you ensure all statements you make on Proposal Forms, Claim Forms and other documents are full and accurate. If a form is completed on your behalf, you should check that the answers shown to any questions are true and accurate before signing the document.
You are reminded that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any false statements or withhold any relevant information to obtain an insurance certificate.
You are advised to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or direct to your insurer.
If you are in any doubt about whether information is material, you should disclose it.
We will issue documentation to you in a timely manner; you should ensure you keep this in a safe place. It is important that you check all documentation to ensure details are correct, if this is not the case you should contact us immediately.
You must comply with any warranties (whether express or implied) contained within the insurance we have arranged. Failure to comply can result in the insurer automatically terminating your policy.
Further, where the insurance has been placed with a subjectivity, it may be invalidated or coverage prejudiced whilst the subjectivity is outstanding.
In order to protect your interests it is imperative we are informed immediately of any incident which could give rise to a claim. We will then inform insurers without delay.
Any letter of claim received by you must be forwarded to us immediately, without acknowledgement.
We will advise you promptly of Insurers’ requirements concerning claims, including the provision, as soon as possible, of information required to establish the nature and extent of a loss.
We will forward any payments received from insurers in respect of any claim to you without delay.
We will notify you of any request for information we receive from your insurers.
Castlemead will seek to avoid conflicts of interest, but where this is unavoidable, we will explain the position fully and manage the situation in such a way as to avoid prejudice to any party.
To ensure we get the best offer from insurers and to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you the insurer may use public and personal data from a variety of sources, including credit reference agencies and other organisations. Their search will appear on your credit report whether or not your applications proceed.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions you agree to these uses of your information.
It is always our intent that business is placed with insurers who are of a financial standing and reputation to support the policy being underwritten. Castlemead Insurance Brokers Ltd cannot and does not guarantee the solvency of any insurer it uses, nor does it rate, assess or approve security. However, it does utilise the security ratings provided by specialist rating agencies such as Standard and Poors. Based on the information they provide, we may ask you for specific authorisation to use certain insurers.
In order to be able to offer credit facilities, we are registered under the Consumer Credit Act and our Licence Number is 252611
We normally accept payment by direct bank transfer or guaranteed cheque, details are found on your invoice. Alternatively you may be able to spread your payments through Insurers’ instalment schemes or a credit scheme that we have arranged with a third party finance provider. We will give you full information about your payment options when we discuss the renewal of your policies.
We may keep certain documents, such as your insurance policy documents or certificate, while we are waiting for full payment of premiums. In these circumstances, we will ensure that you receive full details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents that you are required to have by law.
Payment of any invoice issued to you must be settled within 30 days from the effective date of cover. Where premiums are required earlier than the 30 day credit period we will advise you prior to cover commencing. Failure to meet the payment date may result in insurers cancelling cover and additional charges made. We will remit such monies to insurers in line with our agreements with them.
If a policy is cancelled, we will refund any return premium due to you once it has been received from the relevant insurance company. Any commission due on a return premium will be credited at our discretion.
Client money is the money of any currency that we receive and hold in the course of carrying on insurance mediation on behalf of our clients, which we treat as client money in accordance with FCA rules. We keep client money separate from our own money in a non statutory trust account and any interest earned on client money will be retained by us.
We hold client money subject to a non statutory trust. This means we are entitled to and may use client money held on behalf of one client to pay another clients premium before the premium is received from that other client, and to pay claims and premium refunds to another client before we receive payment from the insurer.
We are not entitled to use client money to pay commissions before we receive the relevant premium from the client.
The aim of the trust is to protect the client in the event of failure of the firm, or failure of the bank or a third party at which the money may be held. In such circumstances, the firm’s general creditors should not be able to make claims on client money as it will not form part of the firm’s property.
The fact that we will hold money on trust gives rise to fiduciary duties, which will be owed to you until the client money reaches the insurer or product provider.
These rules also apply to other intermediaries who form part of the chain between clients and insurers.
As Independent Brokers our remuneration is derived from commission and/or a fee. Commission is a percentage of the insurance premium paid to your insurance company, details of which are available on request. The taxation element is not subject to commission. You will always be advised in advance of any fee charged to you, fees are non-refundable.
Some insurers may make additional payments to us contingent on the aggregate income and/or profitability of their account with us and/or in respect of work we undertake on their behalf.
It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. However, if, at any time, you are dissatisfied with the service we provide, we have a formal complaints procedure. You should therefore take the following course of action:
You may make your complaint either orally or in writing to:
Nick Frost ACII
Castlemead Insurance Brokers Ltd
Castlemead House,
St Johns Road,
Bristol
BS3 1AL
0117 945 3900
If you cannot resolve your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to:
The Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall,
London, E14 9SR
0800 023 4567
A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.
By making a complaint, you do not prejudice your rights to any legal proceedings. The parties to a contract of insurance covering a risk
situated in the United Kingdom are permitted to choose the law applicable to the contract.
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered 100% of the claim without any upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk
Our liability is limited to the Professional Indemnity limit required by our regulator.
Current UK money laundering regulations require us to obtain adequate information about you to ensure we “know your client”.
We are obliged by NCA to report any evidence or suspicion of financial crime.
When we acquire confidential information from you concerning your business or affairs, we will maintain the confidentiality of that information unless the information properly enters the public domain.
We may however disclose that we have provided services to you together with any other information already properly in the public domain for the purposes of marketing, publicising or selling our services. We may identify you by name and give a general indication of the services provided.
We will also disclose information, including confidential information to:
Our partners and staff and our associated businesses for the purpose of providing services to you or for other purposes internal to us or our associated businesses
Comply with any requirement of English law or any other relevant jurisdiction
Any regulatory body with whose requirements we are bound to comply
At our discretion, any regulatory body to whom we have a right to disclose information
Our professional advisers and professional indemnity insurers
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, private customers have a right to see personal information about them that we hold in our records. If you wish to exercise this right, or have any other related queries, you should write to us at:
Nick Frost ACII
Castlemead Insurance Brokers Ltd
Castlemead House,
St Johns Road,
Bristol
BS3 1AL
0117 945 3900
Further information:
Bristol office:
Castlemead House
St John's Road
Bristol BS3 1AL
Exeter office:
Leeward House
Fitzroy Road
Exeter Business Park
Exeter EX1 3LJ
