Insurance for a Childrens Party

GingerNB

Hello,

Not posted for a while so please be kind

I have booked the local Guide Hall for my son's 5th Birthday party and they have advised me that I need to get liability insurance as they don't provide it. Never had this when hiring a hall before so no idea what to do. I have a magician who is fully insured but he is only there for 1 1/2 hours and the party is for 2 hours. Would this be covered on my house insurance (under the personal liability bit)? Has anyone else had this?

Ekkkk! Its only two weeks away so could really do without having a change of venue..

Any help or advice appreciated.

GB

Alleycat

We've had 2 hall birthday parties (at different venues) and neither has said that we would need to get our own insurance. I'm sure they both had public liability insurance to cover useage by any group. One hall is attached to a church and the other is a local community centre.

GingerNB

Thanks for the reply Alleycat. Thats what I thought too but it seems as it is just used for the Guides that they have their own insurance and when they hire it out you have to get your own. I know its a very small chance that something would happen but I am a worrier and its really playing on my mind. Best price I have found so far is £37.50.......Ekkkkkk

RLH33

What about your house insurance? That covers public liability so give them a ring to see if a party is covered.

Mind you the Guides are a little misguided, if not wrong, in their approach, if they hire you the hall and something goes wrong, say a piece of roof falls down on a child (extreme I know but useful for the explanation) then they will be liable as they are responsible for the safety of the facilities. Any insurance you get will not cover these types of things.

I have recently spoken to an insurance company on this point for a preschool using a wood for activities and this was their advice as the principle is the same.

kingfisherblue

Well I'm a Guider and I've nevver heard of this. The unit should have public liability insurance if they own a hall, and this should cover all users, as far as I am aware. I am also on the board of a centre that hires out rooms and a hall (not Guiding related) and we have to have public liability insurnace by law.

This link gives contact details for GirlGuiding UK - you might want to give them a ring to ask if the unit should have public liability insurance in place themselves

http://guidingmanual.guk.org.uk/useful_links/useful_contacts.aspx

pug_in_a_bed

Public liability insurance is actually voluntary but very good practice, its employers liability which is compulsory I believe. I imagine they have this to cover their employees.

Single event public liability insurance shouldn't cost a great deal esp. for such a small event, but its a bit of a pain having to sort it yourself.