Terms of Business Agreement

Introduction

The Alan Stevenson Partnership Ltd is an independent intermediary and not an insurer, that offers transactional and/or advisory insurance services for general business excluding Life Pensions and Investments and any other business regulated under the Financial Services Act, in accordance with this Terms of Business Agreement (‘Agreement’).

Our Regulator

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for arranging General Insurance. Our FCA registration number is 305785.

You can check this on the FCA register at www.fca.gov.uk/register or by contacting them on 0800 1116768.

Our Service

Where we are making a personal recommendation based on a fair and personal analysis, we will examine sufficient insurance contracts, based upon cover, premiums and service. In all other cases for example, when we conduct a limited search or offer a single insurer, or offer no advice or personal recommendation, or where we are contractually bound to offer a particular insurer, we will supply you with a list of the insurers we may and do conduct business with. You will receive a statement of your demands and needs and reason for our recommendation.

Policies Offered

We offer policies from a wide range of insurers for –

• Business Property/Liabilities Management Risks

• Private Car

• Household

For other classes we may only be able to offer products from a single or limited range of companies. However, we will not in any circumstances act as an insurer and will not guarantee or otherwise the solvency of any insurer. Quotations are usually valid for 30 days unless stated otherwise. Unless otherwise agreed, we will send you documentation confirming the basis of cover secured on your behalf.

Our Infocus Photography Insurance scheme has a separate Terms of Business Agreement.

Our relationships

As an insurance intermediary we act as your agent. We may also have relationships with insurers and act for them in a limited capacity. If we have binding authority or claims handling authority with an insurer we will disclose this. Some insurers appoint us as their agent for receipt of premium and the issue of documents. They may also allow us to discount premiums in limited circumstances. We will advise you when these circumstances occur so you will be aware of any possible conflicts of interest. We are subject to the laws of agency and will always act in your best interests.

Payment

We act as a credit broker and not a lender, for which we receive a commission.

You are responsible for paying premiums by the due date. We have no obligation to fund premiums for you and have no responsibility for any loss you may suffer as a result of the insurer cancelling the policy due to non-payment.

You may pay your premium to us by –

• Debit Card

• Direct Transfer (detailed on our invoice)

• Cash, Cheque

• Monthly Instalments – instalment charges will be advised to you before you proceed with the insurance.

• Direct debit facilities may be available with your insurers. Please ask for details.

If any payment or direct debit (under a credit agreement you enter into) to pay insurance premiums is not met when presented for payment or if you end a credit agreement and you do not make other arrangements with us to pay the insurance premiums you acknowledge and agree that we may: a) at any time after being so informed, instruct on your behalf the relevant insurer to cancel the insurance ( or, if this occurs shortly after the start or renewal of the insurance, to notify the insurer that the policy has not been taken up); b) where credit is arranged with a third party Premium Finance Company to collect any refund of premiums which may be made by the insurer and if any money is owed to the Premium Finance Company under your credit agreement pay it to the Premium Finance Company or if the Company have debited us with the amount outstanding use it to offset our costs.

You will be responsible for paying any time on risk charge and putting in place any alternative insurance and/or payment arrangements you need.

Your Money

We hold your premium payment in a statutory trust client money bank account. This means we keep client money separate from our own money. We may only use the money held in trust on behalf of a customer for paying that customer’s premium to an insurance company, and to pay premium refunds or claims we receive from the insurance company to that customer, once the money has been received from t he insurance company. We are not allowed to use that customer’s money to pay another customer’s premium or refund. Any interest earned on client money held by us will be retained by us for our own use.

Your Cancellation Rights

Retail clients have the right to cancel their policies within 14 days of receiving it. If you exercise this right, then the Insurer will charge you only for the cover you have had (although there may be a small charge for the administration costs involved as well). Full details will be contained in the policy summary you will receive. This right is in addition to any other cancellation rights you may have after this 14 day period has expired. For commercial clients if there is any right to cancellation or refund this is detailed in your policy. You need to note also that our charges mentioned above are separate from the Insurers and if the policy is cancelled, at anytime, these will not be refunded.

Claims

Except where otherwise agreed, we will provide claims handling services during the policy period where policies are placed by us and a claim is notified to us by you. These services can be continued beyond our appointment as your broker or advisor subject to a separate fee to be agreed at the time. If you have a doubt about whether a matter constitutes a notifiable claim or circumstance contact us immediately, If you want to claim on your policy you should use your insurer claim line (details in your policy) or notify us immediately by telephone on 0161 928 3991.

Our Fees and Charges

We are remunerated by commission from your premium and paid to us by your Insurer, and you may request details of this from us. In the event of cancellation, we do not refund fees or commission paid to us for arranging your insurance. Commission rates paid by insurers are variable and do not always reflect the level of work carried out by us so we also make individual service charges, over and above the charges made by your insurers, to cover the administration of your insurance policy. Our fee may be agreed with you in advance.

Other Revenue

We may also receive revenue based upon volume and profitability of insurance placed with a given insurer over a specific period. These payments recognise the services we provide to the insurer over the given period and are not directly related to the services provided to you. We may also earn commission from a premium finance provider.

The duty of fair presentation

It is your responsibility to provide a fair presentation of the insurance risk based on you conducting a reasonable search for information. This could require you to obtain information from senior managers within your organisation or other parties to which the insurance relates or who carry out outsource functions for your business. You must disclose every material circumstance which you know, or ought to know, or failing that disclose sufficient information to put your insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries. You must ensure that any information you provide is correct to the best of your knowledge and representations that you make in expectation or belief must be made in good faith.

If you fail to make a fair presentation of the risk this may result in additional terms or warranties being applied from inception of the policy or any claim payment being proportionately reduced. In some cases, this could result in your policy being declared void by an insurer and your premiums returned. Any deliberate or reckless breach of the duty of fair presentation could result in your policy being declared void by an insurer with no refund of premium.

You should review the evidence of your insurance cover to confirm that it accurately reflects the cover, conditions, limits and other terms that you require. Particular attention should be paid to any policy warranties as failure to comply may invalidate your coverage.

To ensure full protection under your insurance cover you should familiarise yourself with coverage conditions or other procedures immediately, particularly those relating to claims. Generally, insurers require immediate notification of any claim or circumstance that may give rise to a claim. Failure to adhere to the notification requirements of insurers, as set out in their policy document, may entitle insurers to deny claims.

You should settle your premium and other charges, if applicable, with cleared funds of all monies due by the date advised to you. This enables us to meet insurers’ advised payment terms and conditions.

You will inform us as soon as reasonably practicable of any changes in your circumstances that may affect the services to be provided by us or the cover provided under your insurance policy.

All activities undertaken by us as outlined in this Agreement are provided by us for your exclusive use and all data, recommendations, proposals, reports and other information provided by us in connection with our services are for your sole use. You agree not to permit access by any third party to this information, without our express written permission.

Data Protection and Confidentiality

Any personal data obtained from you in the provision of our services under this Agreement will be held and processed by us in accordance with the relevant legislation. We will hold, use and otherwise process only such of your personal data as is necessary to provide you with our services. We will treat your information in our possession as confidential. We will not pass your personal data to any other organisation unless it is necessary to do so to fulfil our obligations under this Agreement i.e. to certain underwriters, insurers and premium finance companies where such information is material to the risks being covered, or where required by any regulation or enactment, or with your consent.

You have the right to request access to your personal data held by us at any time and in writing. You may exercise your right by writing to our compliance officer at 34 Victoria St, Altrincham WA14 1ET.

Credit Checks

We and/or your insurers/or credit providers may use publicly available data from a variety of sources, including credit reference agencies and other external organisations to verify your identity and creditworthiness, to avoid fraud, and to obtain beneficial quotes and payment options on your behalf, either at renewal or when changes are processed. These searches will appear on your credit report, whether or not your application proceeds but will be clear that this is a quotation rather than a credit application. By agreeing to these terms and conditions you agree to these uses of your information.

Limit of Liability/ Exclusion of liability

Our liability for losses suffered by you, as a consequence of us performing our services negligently is limited in all circumstances to £2,000,000 per claim.

For any other claim arising out of our performance or non-performance of our services, our liability is limited to the amount of commission and fees which we received for setting up the insurance policy under which the claim is made, during the policy period in which the incident that gave rise to the claim took place.

We will not be liable for any indirect losses or for any loss of profit, loss of business, loss of data, loss of anticipated savings, fines, compensation or additional borrowing, whether such losses are direct or indirect. Nothing in this paragraph will exclude or l imit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or for loss caused by our fraud, wilful misrepresentation or breach of the regulatory obligations we owe to you.

Complaints

First speak to us – we make every effort to maintain high standards of service but if we let you down we will try to put things right immediately . If we are unable to do so, you can register a complaint formally by writing to Ian Stevenson or telephoning us on 0161 928 3991.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint in three days, we will write to you confirming who is dealing with the complaint and when we will expect to respond to you. Within 8 weeks of the date we receive a complaint we will provide you with our final decision.

If we cannot settle your complaint you may be entitled to take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). This is in addition to your legal rights. More information is available on request or on their website.

Website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. Non compulsory Insurance is covered for 90% of the claim without any upper limit. For Compulsory classes of insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim without any upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Termination

In the event our services are terminated by you other than at the expiry of the policy period or at renewal we will be entitled to retain any and all fees or brokerage payable (whether or not the same have been received by us) in relation to policies placed by us prior to the date of termination. With effect from the date of termination and in the absence of express agreement to the contrary we will have no obligation to perform any further services (whether contained in this Agreement or otherwise) for you. Our responsibility for handling claims reported after the date of termination shall cease in the absence of express agreement.

Governing Law

This Agreement, which sets out the terms of our relationship with you, will be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law.