Giles Insurance Brokers Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), registration number 311786. This can be verified by visiting the FSA's web site www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234. We may provide services that are not regulated by the FSA because they do not relate to cover provided by an insurance policy.

May we remind you that your insurance is based upon the information provided by you and you have a duty to disclose all material facts. A material fact is defined as any information that may influence an underwriter’s acceptance of a risk. If you are in any doubt whether a fact is material, it MUST be disclosed, because failure to do so may invalidate your cover and could mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid. Your duty to disclose is ongoing and does not apply solely at inception or renewal. If you fail to report claims, or circumstances that may lead to a claim, promptly it may affect your rights to an indemnity under your policy.

All sales are advised sales where a recommendation is made by us unless you are advised otherwise.

In arranging your insurance we are acting for both yourselves and insurers. This is evidenced by distinct Terms of Business Agreements with each party.

We are remunerated by insurers for certain activities which may include prospecting and soliciting new clients, establishing client relationships, understanding the nature of the products we sell, collecting basic information from you (usually in a proposal form) obtaining quotations and placing cover, collecting and submitting paperwork, issuing policy documentation and collecting premiums.

We are remunerated by you for certain activities which may include comparing insurers’ products and security, providing risk advice, gathering enhanced data and providing it to insurers, comparing and negotiating premiums, reporting to you our findings and making recommendations, obtaining instructions from you, establishing and maintaining relationships with insurers on your behalf, providing advice and assisting in completing proposal forms, checking and issuing policy documentation, checking terms and conditions imposed by insurers meet your requirements, notifying and providing advice in the event of a claim.

We derive our earnings from a mixture of commission and professional fees, which apply for transactions throughout the policy term. You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business. For accounting purposes we will take commission due to us upon receipt of your premium unless our Terms of Business with the provider specifies otherwise.

We may also benefit from earnings we are able to generate a) due to the amount of business placed with certain insurers and the underwriting performance of those insurers b) through management of cash balances held, on behalf of insurers and clients c) from our relationship with other non insurance companies. These may not be identifiable from a specific client or account.

The professional fees will be dependent upon the level of premium, service, administration, complexity, seniority of staff involved, scarcity of supply and operational factors. Professional fees will always be advised to you in advance and will be non refundable in the event of policy cancellation.

Standard Fees

Please note that these fees may be in addition to fees levied by your insurance provider.

The monetary amount of fees calculated as a percentage of premium will be provided to you prior to inception/renewal and as soon as possible for Mid Term Adjustments. We also reserve the right to charge a £25 administration fee if a cheque is not honoured by your bank and for any other type of returned payment.

Non-standard Fees

Where the nature or the complexity of arranging or amending your insurance necessitates fees in excess of the above, this will be discussed with you and the level of fee to be charged will be disclosed separately, in writing, prior to the transaction.

Fees or commissions earned are non refundable in the event of cancellation or amendment of your policy or termination of our services. In the absence of any other agreement, non-payment of any premium or non-receipt of forms may be taken as your instruction to cancel cover. If a policy should be cancelled the net premium less commission, if any, will be returned to you less the cancellation fee shown above. Sometimes there is no return premium, for example, following a claim. The return could be low due to insurer short period scales. For `minimum and deposit´ premium policies there is no return on cancellation. Please check with us before providing cancellation instructions.

We normally accept payment by cheque, credit card or cash. Alternatively you may be able to spread your payments through a credit scheme operated by a premium finance company. We may choose not to use insurer credit facilities, our decision will depend upon a number of factors including ease of administration for you, interest rates and the ability to provide credit facilities that encompass all your policies, services and fee payments.

Delays in payment beyond inception or renewal date in some situations may be interpreted by insurers as exhibiting the intention not to pay. This may result in all or part of your claim not being paid, or your insurers cancelling your policy. Full payment of premium and fees is due in cleared funds before cover commences or as otherwise stated under terms of credit, or in the debit note, invoice or statement issued to you. To safeguard your interest, payment must be made prior to inception or renewal date unless there is an agreement in writing otherwise. We will give you full information about your payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail.

We will safeguard client money by holding it in a non-statutory trust client account. We may extend credit from this account we may also retain any interest earned on this account. For consumers, we may retain interest even if the sum earned on your premiums held by us exceeds £20.

For the purpose of some transactions, client money may pass through other authorised intermediaries before it is received by the insurer this may include brokers and settlement agents outside the UK. The legal and regulatory regime applying to a broker or settlement agent outside the UK may be different from that of the UK and in the event of a failure of the broker or settlement agent, this money may be treated in a different manner from that which would apply if the money were held by a broker or settlement agent in the UK. You may notify us if you do not wish your money to be passed to a person in a particular jurisdiction.

We may also hold premiums as agent of the insurer. This means that your premium deemed to be received by the insurer upon receipt by us. This is dependent on the terms of business under which the individual insurer trades with us.

We may keep certain documents such as your policy document or certificate while we await full payment of monies due or forms that require to be completed by you. In these circumstances we will ensure that you receive full details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents which you are required to have by law.

Whilst we monitor the financial strength of the insurers with whom we place business it should be noted that the claims-paying ability of even the strongest insurers may be affected by adverse business conditions. We cannot therefore, guarantee the solvency of any insurer or underwriter.

In respect of some classes of insurance we may operate block insurance arrangements in order to provide competitive terms. On occasions it will be necessary for us to transfer such blocks from one insurer to another where this is beneficial to our clients.