From TV screens going blank during the game, to volcanic ash disrupting travel, terrorist attacks and freak weather conditions, the risk profession plays a key role when it comes to big tournaments, even though they have provided over £6 billion worth of coverage for the month-long event.

Munich Re estimates the broadcasting rights earned FIFA 2.2 billion Euros for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. If the event is cancelled, FIFA faces substantial claims by companies who have licensed the media coverage.

Swiss Re Group estimate the cancellation of the event is one of the biggest risks insured, and the Olympics and the World Cup are two of the largest events insured for event cancellation coverage. FIFA alone has purchased $650 million in insurance for total cancellation of the World Cup 2010.

Other risks associated with the World Cup are household damage, increased thefts, player injury and even trauma suffered by fans whose teams have underperformed in the games. Surely something that England fans will not have to endure!

This interesting video gives some background to the huge risks and financial costs that must be considered when taking on the responsibility of staging a global event such as the World Cup 2010.

This group are easy prey for thieves says the study, because 92% of the victims carry a mobile phone while out with friends, 74% carry cash and 42% carry an iPod around with them.

The clothes and gadgets carried by the average young teen on Britain’s streets are worth £246 says the report, singling them out as targets for thieves, while 21% of 5-8 year olds carry a mobile phone and 17% carry cash when they’re out and about with friends.

While parents are anxious to keep their offspring safe by allowing them to carry a mobile phone, they may inadevertently be responsible for increasing the risk of theft and mugging.

Furthermore, by focusing their concerns on outside threats such as stranger danger, parents could be blinkered with regard to their children’s safety knowledge in and around the home.

The LV= Streetwise research shows that 38% of 5-15 year olds would not know how to leave the house safely in the event of a fire, and 15% don’t feel they are able to cross the road safely.

Mike Rogers, LV= group chief executive, said:

“Helping to steer your children safely through the world around them is one of the biggest challenges for parents today. While most parents will warn their children to be careful when carrying around cash and expensive gadgets, they may not pay the same attention to the safety risks in and around the home.
Our purpose as an insurer is to protect people’s lives and possessions, so naturally we also feel strongly about helping to educate families about safety and risk prevention. As a founder member of the LV= Streetwise charity we have a long-term commitment to child safety, and the message is going nationwide this summer as our safety bus roadshow visits summer fairs across the UK, to educate youngsters about safety.”

The LV=Streetwise Safety Bus Roadshow is currently touring the UK helping to educate children about safety in the home, on the streets and at railway crossings.

home insurance

Many homeowners spend several years and thousands of pounds gradually improving their property and with summer only around the corner, now is the perfect time of year to get your home looking spic and span. It is important not to let all this hard work go to waste.

Like most things, your home is at risk and depending on where you live, these risks can be numerous. This is why home insurance is so important – should something untoward or unexpected happen to your house, you will be protected financially from the cost of any repairs.

Most property owners will understand that they cannot prevent all risk, but thankfully they can be afforded the peace of mind that home insurance offers. What kind of risks can you expect? Well, if you’re thinking of purchasing a new property, it is important to check if the house likely to experience flooding. According to the government, five million people in the UK are at risk from streams and rivers overflowing. Homeowners should ask their estate agent or check the Environment Agency’s online flood map, where a risk breakdown will be provided after you enter your postcode.

You only need to cast your mind back to the summer of 2007 to understand the damage that flooding can do. Tewkesbury, a small town in Gloucestershire, was effectively turned into an island after the nearby Severn and Avon rivers burst their banks, and those without home contents insurance lost all their possessions. Without savings, many were left homeless and unable to recoup their belongings. A similar situation was seen in Toll Bar in South Yorkshire, where homeowners had to be rescued from their homes in rigid inflatable boats.

Another common environmental risk is subsidence. This is characterised by a series of small cracks appearing in a property’s walls, and if nothing is done the problem can quickly escalate to the point where tens of thousands of pounds of remedial work is required. Homes most at risk are those in the south of England built on clay soil. Subsidence occurs after a spell of hot, dry weather, which causes all the water in the soil to be sucked out by plants, trees and bushes, forcing the clay to contract.

In the property business, this phenomenon is known as ‘differential leave’. It’s serious because it can lead to structural damage, although fortunately instances of subsidence have been rare over the past couple of years thanks to the unusually wet summers. Properties suffering from subsidence rarely collapse, but their foundations normally need to be strengthened – a procedure than can cost anywhere between £5,000 and £50,000.

Property owners with home insurance should check to see whether their policy covers subsidence, and if it doesn’t, you may wish to consider seeking the advice of a chartered surveyor. In addition to cracks, some of the warning signs include doors and windows becoming stuck for no obvious reason and rippling wallpaper when there is no obvious damp problem.

Worryingly, large numbers of people put off investing in home insurance, confident that their property is somehow immune from risk. What many don’t realise is that home insurance policies include three fundamental factors that, unless you’re a multi-millionaire, are crucial if something should go wrong, as the cost of repairs without the help of insurance are financially crippling at best and completely unaffordable at worst – which could mean that the home you spent so many years working on can no longer be yours. These factors are structural damage, liability and uninhabitable living expenses.

Structural damage, which can be caused by both flooding and subsidence, is a key part of a home insurance policy. An insurer can cover the cost of repairs that need to be undertaken in addition to any replacements such as doors, windows or floorboards. Fewer people are aware of liability insurance, which guarantees that anyone entering your property is covered should something unexpected happen. It sounds highly unlikely, but it is not unknown for homes to be damaged by aircraft, trains or vehicles, while many more are struck by lightning. Liability insurance also covers the costs of any lawsuits filed against a homeowner by a guest who may have suffered a personal injury as a result of one of these calamitous events.

Policies that include uninhabitable expenses are particularly important for homeowners living on a flood plain or close to a river. A home insurance policy can guarantee that any expenses incurred while not being able to reside at your property can be claimed back until the insured property is safe enough to move back in to.

Homeowners should also consider a few other factors related to their home insurance. Is the property located adjacent to a busy road or an accident-prone area? What material is the home constructed from? What type of area is the property located in – for example, is there lots of crime? Brick or concrete homes tend to benefit from cheaper home insurance compared to wood floors thanks to the greatly reduced fire risk.

Crime and burglaries are of particular concern to homeowners. While burglars are unlikely to damage your home structurally, apart from maybe forcing their way through a window or door, they will be intent on removing its most valuable contents. For this reason, it is vital to invest in home contents insurance. With the cost of technology having lowered over the last few years, more homes contain high-definition televisions, laptops, desktop computers and other expensive electrical equipment. It takes only a matter of minutes for a seasoned burglar to get their hands on your possessions, and once they’ve been taken, you can be sure of never seeing them again.

During 2005-06, the British Crime Survey recorded 733,000 offences relating to domestic burglary, which represented seven per cent of all crime reported in the poll. While 293,000 of these were attempts only, in 440,000 instances an offender managed to gain entry to a person’s home.

Don’t be caught out by the risks your home faces and invest in an appropriate home insurance policy. Not only will you have peace of mind, but you can alleviate the possibility of financial difficulty should something untoward happen to your home.

David is already an avid Arctic explorer but this will be his most difficult expedition to date and will fulfil his personal dream of reaching the North Pole. He will be joined by a small team of explorers and the expedition will be led by legendary explorer Rune Gjeldnes.

The expedition will require tremendous physical effort and will see David crossing 110km of ice-fields, including thin and pack ice, and freezing open water which is 4000m deep below the ice. The team will also all be carrying rifles in order to defend against any polar bears that might show an interest in the explorers, as they will be very much outnumbered on the open ice.

As well as being a personal challenge for David, he will also be raising funds for two charities that are connected to his work in the motorcycling world. The two charities that will benefit from the challenge are Riders for Health and BASIC, Brain and Spinal Injuries Centre.

Riders for Health provide staff, training and motorbikes to provide remote African communities with professional healthcare services and David wants to raise money for them to be able to open a new centre in one of the poorest African countries – Zimbabwe, as well as providing a new fleet of motorbikes and fully trained staff.

BASIC is another brilliant charity that will benefit and is very much linked to the motorcycling world. BASIC offer practical support to families who need to look after a family member who has severe spinal or brain injuries as the result of a motorbike accident. The money raised by David would help BASIC to open a specialist gymnasium to help in the rehabilitation of those injured and help with their ongoing care.

As the Chief Executive of a specialist motorcycle insurance company, Carole Nash Insurance Consultants, these charities are very much close to David’s heart as they are directly tied to his work.

Carole Nash provides a number of specialist insurance policies for motorcycle riders including those for classic and modern bikes, multi-bike and female biker insurance. They are one of the most popular motorbike insurance brokers in the UK and Ireland and as well as providing motorcycle insurance they also have a variety of other insurance options including car, household and travel insurance.

British Gas, which is owned by Centrica, has won approval from the Financial Services Authority to underwrite its own household and warranty products and the company is currently looking to recruit an underwriting director to operate from their offices in Staines.

The utilities company has a customer base of 4.5 million and the new charge will be responsible for converting a ‘high percentage’ of existing British Gas clients to new insurance products.

The new director will also be commissioned by British Gas Insurance Ltd, to create a top ten UK insurance provider within the two to three year time span.

Their research says that 35% of the public will turn to online auction sites and market places to hunt for bargain Christmas gifts and 40% will be happy to turn a blind eye to potentially stolen goods if the price is right.

Experts warn online shoppers to check out the background of independent sellers online, with one in twelve shoppers previously falling victim to criminals selling stolen or fake goods.

LV= also warn shoppers to be on their guard, saying that anything stolen or counterfeit will not be covered by a home insurance policy so shoppers buying these goods could find themselves or their family out of pocket. Furthermore, buying from these sellers encourages further criminal activity such as burglary and theft.

LV= offers the following advice to avoid ‘black market’ goods:

• Carefully check the description and photographs of the item online and compare with other examples for sale.
• Check if the price is similar to other sellers, and if it is much lower be suspicious.
• When buying a designer item, such as a watch or bag, check that you are getting all the extras such as the box and certificate of authenticity.
• If you are buying a designer watch, check that the number engraved on the watch itself matches the number on the certificate of authenticity.
• If buying expensive items, avoid private sellers and buy from registered UK businesses. These are by law required to provide an address and phone number.
• When dealing with private sellers, ask for a name and check they have working contact details before you part with any money and always check their online ‘feedback’.
• Avoid any seller who asks for payment only by cash or by moneygram type services.
• Check if there’s a refund and returns policy – all legitimate UK businesses have to offer refunds and returns.
• If you’re dealing with an independent private seller, ask about their refund policy and get this in writing so you are less vulnerable in the event of the item being damaged, stolen or counterfeit.
• Use online reviews and reputation sites to check out sellers.
• Pay by credit card or take advantage of protection schemes provided by online payment suppliers. You will then be protected if the goods do not arrive or turn out to be fakes.
• One of the biggest risks of ending up with stolen or counterfeit goods is when purchasing from abroad. Be particularly cautious when buying from China, Nigeria and Romania.

The revamped Diamond product is said to be unique to the market and offers a bespoke solution for females looking for home insurance with a difference while retaining competitive pricing in the market place.

The tailor made solution can include Home Emergency Cover, Handbag Cover, Keycare and Legal Protection, over and above the normal benefits of conventional home insurance.

Diamond policy holders will have access to a Concierge Service that can offer help with finding a hotel, booking tickets for a show and searching for local tradesmen, amongst it’s many benefits.

Sainsbury’s Finance

Research has shown that the average student carries around £3,500 worth of personal belongings with them when they move to university accommodation, much of it in the form of mobile gadgets that can easily be lost or stolen.

Almost a third of students have no cover for their personal items and bearing in mind that one in three  students are also likely to be the victim of crime while at university, the odds are stacked quite high.

Sainsbury’s home insurance manager, Ben Tyte, suggests that students should check without fail whether their parents’ home insurance provides cover to their belongings when they are staying away from home for studies.

Sainsbury’s Finance is offering up to £5,000 worth of home insurance cover to students living away from their homes, as an added feature to its contents insurance policies.

UK supermarket chain Tesco have formalised their partnership with insurance provider Fortis UK Ltd to provide Home and motor insurance products to its customers.

The deal was first announced in June this year following Tesco Personal Finance PLC ending their business relationship with the Royal Bank of Scotland with a buy out that gave the supermarket full control of the business.

Motorists and home owners in the UK are expected to reap the early benefits of the new partnership, with competitive pricing and improved levels of service being promised from the new launch.

The partnership will also be a boost to job searchers as Tesco will create 1,500 new jobs to service the business over the coming months.

According to Defaqto 7% of insurers have raised the excess on their home and buildings insurance policies to £100 over the past twelve months. In fact some insurers have increased the figure to £200.

Although clients have the opportunity to decrease the excess, this would then be reflected in an increased premium. Either way they win it seems. But that may not be strictly true.

The current financial crisis has seen an increase in insurance fraud as desperate times mean desperate measures, but another thing that should be taken into consideration is that in bouyant times many of us would not bother to make a claim for much less than a hundred pounds, but with less income in UK households that situation is likely to be reversed.