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17/05/2005: "Survey Reveals Insurance Void"

Nearly one in 10 business travellers don't know if they are insured when on a business trip, according to a Barclaycard Business Survey. The survey found that 64% of business travellers have travel insurance organised by their employer or designated supplier and 24% organise it themselves. But 9% of business travellers don't know whether they are covered.

Business travel bosses said the survey highlighted a key service that travel management companies could stress when touting for contracts. Barclaycard Business head of card issuing Tim Carlier said the survey painted a frightening picture. "It is worrying that nearly one-tenth of business travellers are unsure who has responsibility for organising their insurance," he said. "Insurance is one of the most important purchases when travelling and failure to be covered could result in complicated financial implications and personal difficulty. It is important for employers to ensure their staff are aware of company policies."

The survey also found that employees with smaller companies were more likely to have to arrnge their own travel insurance. Cover was arranged by 47% of employees working or companies with turnovers of up to £250,000 but by just 6% of staff employed by firms turning over £100 million.

According to Jonathan Cooper, travel manager for the accident and health division of AIG Europe, this was due to smaller companies being less likely to have someone that dealt with business travel specifically. "Every company needs to develop a policiy about travel insurance and let everyone in the company know, even if it is that they should organise it themselves," he said. "The change in dynamic of booking business travel has perhaps encouraged this confusion as booking travel isn't necessarily centrally controlled and power has been devolved, probably wrongly, to the employee."

Michael Hare, managing director of travel management company Fleet Street Travel, said this highlighted the value of travel management firms. He said: "They can control the type of travel and everything else at a company level. Travel management companies are happy to promote travel insurance."

(this article was written by Simon Crawshaw)