Date set for Supreme Court business interruption insurance ruling

The Supreme Court ruling on whether insurers' policy-wording means they should pay out for business interruption claims related to Covid-19 is due to be announced on 15 January.

An update on the court website said a judgment will be handed down at 9.45am this Friday. It will be streamed live then made available to view online.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said: “We understand that delivery of the judgment may last around 15 minutes, and the full written judgment is likely to be published on the Supreme Court’s website very soon after that.”

The decision will affect thousands of hospitality businesses whose insurers declined to pay out following the enforced closure of premises in March 2020. Many insurance companies argued that business interruption policies did not cover a government-imposed lockdown.

This prompted the FCA watchdog to bring a test case on behalf of policy-holders seeking to clarify the issue.

A high court ruled in September that Covid-19 claims should be paid in most cases where policies had pandemic or notable disease clauses.

But the case went to the supreme court in November after the FCA and eight insurance companies, including Arch, Argenta, Hiscox, MS Amlin, QBE and RSA, sought to appeal aspects of the judgment.

It is believed around 370,000 policyholders with 60 different insurers and around 700 types of policies were affected by the initial high court ruling.

Many tens of thousands were impacted by the further appeal, and it is hoped a judgment will see claims progressed.