If you employ bona-fide sub-contractors to carry out work on your behalf, you will typically have a condition within your insurance policy that requires you to check they have adequate Liability insurance.

We have come across a number of instances where. although the main contractor has checked their subbies have insurance, at the time of a claim it turned out the cover wasn't right.

This has meant that the main contractors insurer hasn't been able to claim against the at-fault sub-contractor, leading to a bigger claim and higher ongoing premiums.

To try and prevent this happening to our customers, we offer to check the sub-contractors insurance details that you collect. We take the information and trawl through the policies looking for problems, so we can alert you to any potential issues.

This helps to make sure that you are complying with the terms of your own policy and hopefully avoid the difficulties and extra costs incurred when your sub-contractor doesn't have adequate cover.

If you'd like to know more about this service, and other ways to keep your premiums under control, reach out to Blue Rock for an initial chat.

Blue Rock Insurance Brokers are specialist commercial brokers, advising a wide range of business customers on their insurance needs.

We are a new, fast-growing business and are looking to bring on the next generation of talented brokers into a fascinating and fast changing sector.

The Role

The trainee programme will involve exposure to all the areas of our business – customer advice, service, claims, back-office, accounts. There will be a range of administration tasks to undertake but there will also be the opportunity to take over responsibility for a small book of client business.

During the year, trainees will be expected to study and pass the Certificate level of the Chartered Insurance institute and will gain a recognised industry qualification.

At the end of your training we will be looking to deploy you in a full-time role in the area where you have most interest and can add value, so this is very much a long-term proposition. We are a fast-growing firm so opportunities for advancement are always presenting themselves.

Location

The role will be based at our office in Ayr town centre with standard office hours 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Skills Needed

• Strong verbal and written skills with the ability to show attention to detail
• Ability to establish collaborative customer relationships in a fast-paced environment
• A good attitude and the ability to interact with lots of different people
• Professional and friendly manner
• Basic computer skills and experience with Microsoft Office applications
• Flexibility, great attendance and good time keeping
• Willingness to take ownership of situations with positivity, resilience, and a dedicated approach to providing excellent customer service.

Salary

Salary during the 12 month training programme is £12,000. This is the starting level for school/college leavers.

We also welcome applications from graduates or individuals with customer service experience in another sector who are wishing to make a change. If you have more to offer then salary is negotiable up to £18,000 a year.

To apply

Please e-mail conor.tremble@bluerockinsurance.co.uk and request an application form. This should be returned to us by 21^st January 2022.

We will be carrying out quick telephone interviews in late January 2022 followed by in-person interviews during February with a view to bringing on two new trainees with a start date of 1^st March 2022.

We want to assure all of our customers that we will always be available to help throughout the lockdown measures.

We had briefly returned to our office at the end of 2020 but, for the safety and wellbeing of our staff, took the decision not to return in January.

All of our staff are working from home with full access to our usual IT systems. E-mail addresses and mobile telephone contact details are all operating as normal. Telephone calls to our general switchboard number will go to voicemail and be electronically re-routed to the correct staff member for an immediate call back.

Please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail with any questions or issues that you might have.

We sent the following advice note to our clients by e-mail in December 2020 and repeated it in February 2021.

Now that Winter is well and truly here, there are some extra precautions that commercial property owners and tenants should be taking to prevent damage to their premises. This is particularly true where buildings are empty for any period of time and with strict lockdown measures in place this is a widespread issue.

The most obvious cause of damage at this time of year is frozen water pipes thawing out and bursting. The resulting water damage can be devastating, especially if it's not discovered for some time. We recommend that, if possible, you turn off and drain down the water supply. If that's not practical then leave heating on a frost setting.

 Make sure all the security devices are working and are in operation. Don't provide fuel for arsonists - remove trade waste, junk mail and clear away any combustible waste from inside and outside the building.

Turn off and unplug any electrical devices that aren't needed. For extended periods of closure, shut off gas and electricity supplies at the mains (expect where needed to operate fire or intruder alarms).

Inspect the premises inside and out at least once a week, preferably during daylight hours. Look out for signs of damage or attempted forced entry and make sure any necessary repairs and maintenance are carried out quickly.

Most property insurance policies severely restrict cover where properties are unoccupied or not trading for extended periods, usually anything more than 30 days. In many cases cover reduces to Fire only. In addition there are usually conditions that require policyholders to take certain steps, including those above, to protect their property.

Check your policy for details and, if you have any questions at all, please speak to your usual contact at Blue Rock.

We've continued to operate throughout lockdown, and some of our team will be working from home for a while yet, but we were delighted to reopen our office from 1st September.

We will have reduced numbers in the office to maintain social distancing.

Things aren't quite back to normal for any of us but it feels great to be back!

With relaxation of lockdown requirements on the horizon, all our thoughts are on how we will get back to work. It will come later for some of us than others but we will all need to plan how we return to work in a way that is safe for our employees and customers.

We’ve been looking for a way to offer support to our customers at this time and were therefore pleased to hear from our friends at XACT who have put together a range of packages to assist businesses. You can see their introductory video below.

We are happy to announce that we have purchased licences to give all of our customers FREE ACCESS to the on-line portal providing a full range of Covid/Return to Work documents, including;

• Social Distancing Risk Assessments
• Policy and Procedure Templates
• Signs and Posters
• Furlough Letters and Communications

This is tailored specifically to your business sector and is provided by us completely free of charge. A helpline is available to help you find what you’re looking for on the site. If you prefer you can upgrade to a full service where XACT will provide training and complete the risk assessments for you, although this would be at an additional cost.

We have additional licences still available that we’re happy to provide to any UK business that has been partially or entirely closed due to the lockdown. Please get in touch for further information. This is a strictly limited offer and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

As we have transformed our way of working across the nation over the past couple of months, video conferencing has become the norm when it comes to holding business meetings and personal catch-ups. From high-level conference calls and company-wide webinars to virtual quizzes and catching up with friends, the advantages of these platforms are vast; but are they secure? 

As with any boom in technology, the increased popularity has caught people’s attention, and not all of those people have good intentions. There have been multiple reports of video conferences being interrupted by inappropriate images and threatening language; something which can quickly tarnish the reputation of a business during external calls.  

Putting these disruptive and often disturbing interruptions to one side, there’s another side to these attacks. Some hackers have taken to lurking within video calls as a hidden participant, a move which could obviously have huge security implications for many businesses. But do you need to panic?

While these risks are very real on certain platforms, most of them have the built-in security features available to prevent these types of attacks occurring. Many of these incidents have occurred because the user of the software failed to configure these settings effectively. We take a look at what your business should consider in the midst of this video conferencing storm to protect your cybersecurity.

Use business-grade software 
Even if you’re a small business on a tight budget, there are some things that aren’t worth skimping on. Make sure to invest in a platform designed for enterprise use with the full spectrum of security options available. While the basic package might be fine for a chat amongst friends, it likely won’t have the features you need for high-level business meetings where sensitive information is shared.

Take advantage of password protection 
Many video conferencing platforms offer the option for you to password protect a meeting or to assign a pin number. If your software allows this, ensure to use a strong password which cannot be easily guessed and change it for every meeting.

Host participants in a virtual waiting room
Before the meeting is due to begin, you may have the option to put participants in a virtual waiting room before you enable them access to the meeting. This is a great option to utilise as it ensures that you know exactly who is in the meeting before it even starts so you won’t get caught out by any unwelcome guests.

Avoid linking on social media 
Inform anyone joining the meeting not to share a link to a meeting via their social media platforms unless it is open to the general public. It’s advisable to invite your attendees through the software itself.

Update your software
While some video conferencing platforms will update automatically, some will require you to do this manually. Ideally, you should be checking this every time you intend to use it, but once per week should be the minimum. If your software isn’t using the most up-to-date version you could be then be left exposed, as vulnerabilities are often exploited on older software versions. Ensure that all your employees also understand the importance of regular updates and educate them on the steps they need to take to keep your business safe.

Lock your meetings 
Don’t worry, if you lock your meetings once they’ve started your participants will still be able to leave – it just stops anyone else from stealthily entering during the meeting. You will need to remember to unlock and relock the meeting if a welcome participant wants to join late or re-enter.

Regulate screen sharing 
Ensure that only those who need to screen share have permission to do so during a meeting and only when appropriate throughout the call. It’s also best to avoid recording your meetings as this leaves a trail of sensitive information which is then vulnerable to being targeted and shared by hackers. If you do need to record video calls, ensure these are stored securely.

Consider Cyber Insurance
While there are plenty of steps that you can take to protect your business from ill-intentioned cybercriminals, no business is immune to a cyber-attack – no matter how advanced your security. That’s why having Cyber Insurance in place can help to better protect your business should something go wrong. It will cover you against factors such as system repair, data loss and reputational damage among other things. To find out more about Cyber Insurance and how it can help your business, please get in touch.

As we prepare to come out of lockdown an increasing number of our customers have been looking for information on Trade Credit Insurance.

This is not an insurance that everyone knows about so we thought it would be worth a short blog post to at least encourage discussion of the issues.

It seems to us that coming out of lockdown could be a precarious time for many businesses.

You might need to stock up or complete unfinished contracts before you start to see revenue coming through the business. This will be at a time where everyone has been burning through reserves and will be a little nervous. Everyone will want credit but, at the same time, will be afraid to offer it for fear that their customers might go bust.

Credit Insurance allows you to pass that risk on to an insurer. They agree cover up to a credit limit and, if your customer can’t or won’t pay, the insurer will.

As well as helping guarantee cashflow, maybe this could give you an advantage in the market if you can offer credit terms (because you’re insured) that your competitors can’t.

You can arrange cover for all of your customers or just some of them, even a single contract. Advance payments to suppliers can be covered where the insurer returns your payment if the goods don’t turn up.

If you want some further information we can arrange a demo of how cover would operate and you can also get some FREE credit health checks on your main customers whether you take out a policy or not. That in itself is of great value.

Just get in touch via e-mail at info@bluerockinsurance.co.uk for more information.

As the days turn into weeks during the UK lockdown, at Blue Rock we're getting accustomed to working from home.

Adapting to a new routine has meant trying to create a home office, whether that’s in the spare room, lounge or kitchen. While having a specific "space" for work can help with sticking to a routine, how many of us are sitting on unsuitable chairs with a makeshift desk setup?

We thought we'd take a look at what you can do to correct bad posture and muscle tension over this period, avoiding bigger problems further down the line.

Emulate your work desk
When you set up your home working space, it’s best to try to replicate your desk at work as closely as possible. This typically would include a monitor with a separate mouse and keyboard on a desk or a table with a chair that enables you to sit up straight without slouching. Of course, this isn’t possible for everyone and there are different adjustments you can make if you have more limited options.

Adjust your screen height
If you can’t get hold of a monitor, try not to slouch over your keyboard – this in itself is one of the main causes of bad posture. Instead, find a way to elevate your laptop to eye level so you can look at it head-on without having to lower your neck. There’s nothing to say you can’t prop your laptop or monitor up with a few books or a box to get it to the right level.

Use a separate mouse and keyboard
By attaching a separate mouse and keyboard when using a laptop, this will help you to keep your arms relaxed by your side instead of stretching upwards and outwards to reach your keyboard. When using these, make sure to keep them close so you don’t need to continually extend your arms and ensure to keep your wrists straight and relaxed.

Create lumbar support
If you don’t want to fork out on a work chair quite yet, you can implement some simple lumbar support solutions in the meantime. One of your options is to buy a specially designed back support cushion online which can then be attached to any chair that you’re using. Alternatively, you can simply use a standard cushion or roll up a blanket to support you when sitting for extended periods of time.

Take regular breaks
While it can be easy to forget, taking regular breaks is important not only for your mental health but also for your physical wellbeing. It is suggested that you try to move around every half an hour, even if it’s just a quick stretch. Then, every hour have a short walk around – grab a coffee and maybe have a quick jog up and down the stairs.

Frequently exercise
With the absence of our daily commute, making the effort to exercise daily has become increasingly important. Try to make use of your once-daily outdoor activity with a walk, run or cycle in a quiet area and consider taking part in free YouTube home workouts. Even if you’re not a fitness fanatic, you should try to be active for at least 30 minutes every day to maintain your physical and mental health over lockdown.

Don't forget about your mental health
Don't be afraid to ask for help if you're struggling. Lean on family or friends and help each other. There are dedicated support services available. The NHS website lists a range of helplines you can reach out to if you're suffering from stress, anxiety or depression. https://www.nhs.uk

Look after yourself
The most important thing to remember in all of this is to take care of yourself and do what works for you.

Many of our customers have been asking us where to find details of the various Government support schemes launched in the wake of the current lockdown.

We have summarised all the major schemes within a pdf document. Click the "Download" button below to access it.

We will endeavour to keep this up-to-date but please bear in mind that the situation is changing rapidly.

We hope this helps.