New mutual company will help councils negotiate deals with insurers 

Bury has become the latest council to sign up to a new mutual insurance company for councils.

Bury council chiefs last night voted to sign up to the local government mutual, after considering a report stating it will bring financial stability and increased efficiency, reports This is Lancashire, part of the same media company as Insurance Times

Bury Council currently spends £1.3m per year on a range of insurance policies including public liability, motor and property. 

But the authority now intends to join up with other authorities to self-insure against certain risks as part of a Local Government Association (LGA) scheme.

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien said that even where the risks were thought to be too high to self-insure, the mutual could still benefit from “economies of scale” when buying cover externally.

He called it ’an exciting piece of work’.

“Work is quickly underway to ensure it gets set up, gets established, and ultimately gets bought into by local authorities as they come to renegotiate their insurance cover,” he said.