Legal

The CII's insurance provision automatically include local institutes' property damage including regalia, public and products liability, business interruption and Directors & Officers.

Details of the full cover are circulated to all institutes after renewal each year, and there is a charge to each institute based on membership size and whether they have any paid for employees.

Updated insurance verification letters for the forthcoming insurance period can be downloaded below.

All local institutes are covered for civil liability under the Professional Indemnity policy; Directors and Officers liability under the Directors and Officers Liability Policy and Employment Practices liability under the Directors and Officers Liability Policy.

The following is covered:

Professional Indemnity: The loss that the policyholder is personally and legally liable to pay on a claim – includes defence/investigation costs, damages, judgments, interest, claimant’s costs and settlement sums – subject to policy limit of £5m. Exclusions include fines and penalties; punitive; exemplary or aggravated damages, contributions (excess) of £50,000 or £5,000 (in respect of The Local Institutes).

Directors and Officers Liability: The loss of an Insured Person- subject to policy limit of £5m. Exclusions include fines/penalties and losses uninsurable under English Law.

Employment Practices Liability: The loss of an Insured Person - subject to policy limit of £250,000. Exclusions include fines/penalties; matters uninsurable under English Law and future salary following reinstatement; and deductible (excess) of £25,000.

Whilst it should be noted that there exists a potential safety net of insurance cover for discrimination claims brought against local institutes, that is not to say that significant efforts should not be made to improve the education and offering of a local institute council members in discrimination matters in order to fully minimise the risk of potential issues or claims arising.

The Health Act 2009

The Act is best known for having introduced provisions for the creation of a ban on smoking in enclosed public places. This ban focuses on smoking:

The sections of the Act allowing a ban extend to England and Wales although the provisions implementing the ban came into effect separately in England and Wales. In England the ban took effect on 1 July 2007. The ban in Wales came into effect on 2 April 2007.

Smoking was banned separately in Northern Ireland and Scotland — in Northern Ireland by the Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 which took effect on 30 April 2007, and in Scotland (taking effect 26 March 2006) by the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005.

All local institutes are required to conform to provisions of the Health Act, in particular those relating to the prohibition of smoking in certain premises, places and vehicles.

Copyright Act 1988

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used.

Local institutes will need to obtain permission from copyright holders before using copyright materials.

More information can be obtained from the www.gov.uk website.

For information on Licensing Bodies click Licensing bodies for an overview copywriting your institutes work click GOV - Copyright

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (c.53) of the UK Parliament enables some criminal convictions to be ignored after a rehabilitation period. Its purpose is that people do not have a lifelong blot on their records because of a relatively minor offence in their past.

Local institute officers are sometimes faced with queries from students, members and / or prospective members relating to various convictions.

Any such queries should be discussed with the CII Secretariat Department.

Visit GOV.UK for further information.

The CII has a number of policies which set out how key risks are managed and its expectations of ways of working.

A number of these policies are relevant for our network of local institutes and all Council members and officers are expected to comply with their requirements where applicable. Key policies of relevance to local institutes are highlighted below.

For more information on any of these policies or to obtain copies please contact your Regional Membership Manager.

Conflicts of interest
Council and committee members must always take decisions in the best interest of the Institute, and any personal or business interests must not influence these – or be perceived to influence these. The policy sets out the need to put in place arrangements for identifying and managing actual and potential conflicts of interest, such as maintaining a register of Council members’ interests and ensuring that members aren’t involved in any decision where they may or may be perceived to benefit from the decision.

Anti-bribery and corruption
The CII and all Council members and officers are bound by the UK’s Bribery Act 2010. The policy sets out the CII’s commitment to conducting all of its business in an honest and ethical manner and its zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption. The policy details responsibilities as well as providing information and guidance on how to recognise and deal with bribery and corruption issues.

All Institute Council members and officers, along with CII staff and officers are expected to act professionally, fairly and with integrity in all business dealings and relationships, and the prevention, detection and reporting of bribery and other forms of corruption is everybody’s responsibility.

Anti-fraud
The policy sets out the CII’s stance on fraud, the responsibilities for prevention and detection, what to do if you suspect or discover fraud and how the CII will investigate any suspected fraud. The CII does not tolerate fraud in any form, regardless of the mitigating circumstances. Institute Council members and officers as well as CII staff must always act honestly, with integrity and safeguard resources and assets from the impacts of fraud. The CII will investigate all instances of actual, attempted, and suspected fraud committed.

Information security
The policy sets out the CII’s approach to information security, including key principles and how information must be protected. It details responsibilities which apply to Institute Council members and officers, including the duty of confidentiality and to safeguard information.

Data retention policy
The policy sets out principles and processes for the management data to ensure that the CII and Institutes operate in line with regulation, including the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The key principles to note are that records should not be held unnecessarily and should be destroyed when they are no longer needed.

All our members are required to adhere to the our Code of Ethics, a set of principles ensuring we maintain high standards of integrity, probity and ethical fair dealing.

Ethics are a cornerstone of professionalism, and ethical behaviour is crucial to secure public trust and confidence in the insurance and financial planning profession and to build a reputation which people value.

The CII Code of Ethics has been designed to provide members with practical, realistic guidance to follow.

Failure to comply with the Code may result in disciplinary action against the member and risk adverse publicity for the member and their organisation.