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How to Ensure you are Covered by Insurance

Who is covered by SUSU insurance?

The Union’s insurance and public liability cover is in place to protect all its members. All students studying at the University of Southampton are automatically members of SUSU and so are covered by our insurance when taking part in student group activities. If your student group has any members who are not students here, then they will need to become associate members of the Union in order to be fully covered by our insurance. Membership to the Union can be bought from the reception (The Box Office).

What are members covered for?

For a full explanation of what members are covered for, please read our insurance manual available here. Everything highlighted in yellow details what our members are covered for.

Please note that those who are members of a sports club or who have bought performing arts membership are covered by an additional personal accident policy. Details of what this covers them for can also be found in the insurance manual.

What about public liability?

Student groups should be aware that they may be liable for injury to third parties or damage to their property, arising out of and in the course of the activities of the Student Group. All affiliated student groups are covered for Public and Product Liability and also Employers Liability which also covers volunteers. More information on this can be found in the insurance manual detailed above. For any claim, our insurance providers will want to see if you have an adequate risk assessment, and so it is the responsibility of the student group to ensure that they always have up to date risk assessments.

What are members not covered for?

Most student groups will find that SUSU insurance adequately covers their activities. It is, however, worth noting the following when considering if any additional insurance is needed. It is entirely the group’s responsibility to decide if their activities merit additional insurance.

• Personal Injury. All Student Group members are covered by personal injury insurance.  Student Groups that involve a higher risk of injury are covered by Platinum Insurance and all other groups have Gold.  Cover extends to any activity organised by a student group but excludes social events.  So matches, performances, practise, rehearsals, training, coaching, auditions, meetings etc. are covered. Parties, meals, balls and fundraising socials are not.
• Trips abroad. The Union strongly recommends that student groups make it compulsory that all members buy travel insurance when making trips abroad.
• Vehicle insurance. Any groups using the Union minibuses will be covered by SUSU vehicle insurance. Details of how to also use SUSU vehicle insurance when renting a minibus from an external company can also be found in the insurance manual. However, when using vehicles owned by your members, it is essential that these members have their own vehicle insurance. It is the responsibility of the student group to ensure that any vehicles used for group activity have adequate insurance cover.
• High Risk Activities. Certain student groups who partake in particularly high risk activity are advised by their national bodies to purchase additional insurance. There are also certain extremely high risk activities which our insurance will not cover. If you think that this may apply to your student group, please approach the student activities department or email activities@susu.org.

The Union also reserves the right to require that a Student Group has a particular insurance if it feels that they are not adequately covered.

How do I make a claim?

If your student group needs to make a claim, you should first follow the SUSU incident procedure, which can be found here. The incident report will then be passed to our Head of Finance who will approach our insurance company. If you are unsure whether your claim has been logged please email activities@susu.org

If you need any further advice on insurance please do not hesitate to come and speak to one of our staff members in the Activities Office located on level 2 of building 42 (next to the Sabbatical Office). Alternatively, you can email us on activities@susu.org