Perhaps you have warned your personal clients about the problems they may face from adverse winter weather conditions – but what about your SME clients?

Research from major insurance brokerage Towergate has shone the spotlight on the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises and suggested that many of them are ill-prepared for bad weather – indeed more than two thirds have no insurance in place at all.

According to its research, 66% of SMEs have lost revenue due to bad weather and 31% have suffered weather-related damage to property during the last five years. Yet despite this, 44% have no business continuity plan and 69% do not have any insurance cover to protect them.

“The UK’s economy depends on small and medium sized businesses,” said Joe Thelwell, from Towergate. “But far too many firms have left themselves exposed to the unpredictable and at times damaging British weather. The majority of SMEs do not have appropriate contingency plans or insurance to protect them against lost business and unexpected bills resulting from the havoc our weather can wreak.”

The nationwide research showed that SMEs were being hit by employees being delayed or prevented from reaching work (24%), reduced demand for goods and services (16%) and disruption to their supply chain (15%). Towergate’s research also found that, on average, SME’s estimated £523,934 of property and related assets could be at risk of damage by adverse weather – meaning over £1.9 trillion of UK SME’s property and assets could be unprotected and in need of insurance cover.


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