UKH

I probably missed this in the stuff the BMC sends out, but was there something I didn't read previously which informed us that 'From 1st February 2024 the BMC  Personal Accident Insurance will be discontinued'? It's probably been in newsletters which got binned without reading. To quote Mrs Paul in Cumbria 'isn't that why we have BMC membership?'  

Second question, is what's the recommended alternative now? I see there are products on the website which could be third party. 

Cheers, Paul

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I think third party cover is the major benefit for many.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

doesn't this have major implications for climbing at Cheddar? That's the only reason I still have BMC membership

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Are you sure?

It's still on their benefits of being a member page - https://membership.thebmc.co.uk/StaticPage/Benefits

In reply to MeMeMe:

I suppose I could have misinterpreted the letter … see photo

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I dunno, that looks like they are keeping liability insurance but dropping personal accident insurance. Maybe a 'what does this mean for me?' paragraph might have been better than the 'you can take part in your activities with peace of mind'. I mean it just makes me wonder why have it in the first place if I'm reassured that I should now have piece of mind without it...

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Liability insurance is the bit which all BMC members have and this allows for climbing at crags like Cheddar (and I think is part of some other access agreements too), this bit seems to be staying based on what has been posted. This covers legal costs and compensation if you cause someone to be injured or damage their property through your actions while climbing, if you take a massive lob and break both your legs this will not help you at all.

Personal accident insurance is only provided for individual members and club upgrade members (i.e. NOT people who are club members and haven't deliberately upgraded). This is intended to help you if you crock yourself (I don't know the limits and policy terms so you would need to look up the specifics).

I can't imagine the BMC removing the 3rd Party cover as that would likely lead to financial ruin as many members are members to get access to that.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I maybe didn’t pose my questions clearly enough. I didn’t ask about personal liability as this cover isn’t being discontinued.

I was curious as to whether this is the first notice of Personal Accident cover being discontinued, or whether I just didn’t see previous information about it, and, what’s the best source of replacement for the withdrawn benefit?

Thanks all, Paul

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Personal accident benifits are here. 

https://www.howdengroup.com/sites/g/files/mwfley561/files/2023-12/Member%20...

£50k for a total paralysis isn't going to go very far......

In reply to David Lanceley:  Agreed.  Which might be why they are discontinuing it.  There’s a risk of creating a false sense of security.  I wouldn’t want to be associated with selling something so inadequate, so I think this is probably the right call from the BMC.

In reply to David Lanceley:

isn’t that the liability insurance cover or did I misread the document?

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Scroll down a few pages for the accident benifits.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Historically there have been few claims on either the Accident or the Liability policies although of course the Liability policy premiums were significantly affected by the “Black Swan” event a few years ago.  I’ve always thought the accident benefits were a bit of a joke and probably best that they have now gone.  The liability policy is aggregated by the broker with many other sporting organisations so the risk is widely spread. 

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Are there any specific benefits for an individual member now? I could just be a club member and have 3 fewer copies of Summit to throw in the bin every year... The sums involved may not seem significant, but they served to fill a gap before my income protection insurance would kick in.

Bit of a shame, I'm also not renewing my travel insurance as they are quoting us £3700 for a (young-ish) couple covering snowboarding worldwide (£500 for the equivalent at Snowcard).

In reply to Orkie:

Only the dubious pleasure of supporting an increasingly dysfunctional organisation and the additonal 3 unread copies of Summit to recyle.