Ecclesiastical to help brokers speak to schools about risks with new tool

Ecclesiastical has launched a new tool to help brokers talk to their independent school clients about the biggest risks they face.

Called the The Independent Schools Risk Barometer 2024, the tool explores the top risks within the independent education sector and focuses on a range of concerns.

This includes managing mental health and wellbeing, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and school building safety.

Laura Carter, customer segment director at Ecclesiastical, said: “As one of the leading insurers of independent schools in the UK, Ecclesiastical is passionate about supporting the independent education sector.

“Brokers play an important role in helping independent schools understand the risks they are facing and in ensuring they have the right cover in place.”

Research

This came after the insurer found that the biggest concerns for independent school leaders in the UK are costs of maintaining school buildings (22%), managing the mental health and wellbeing of pupils (21%) and recruitment and retention of teachers (20%).

Cost of living pressures (19%), managing mental health and wellbeing of staff (19%) and school inspections (19%) were also concerns cited.

The survey was commissioned by Ecclesiastical and conducted by OnePoll with 250 UK independent school leaders, including bursars, head teachers, deputy head teachers, heads of departments.

”It’s no surprise to see that the cost of living crisis has exacerbated some of the biggest challenges facing independent schools and the costs of maintaining school buildings was cited as the biggest concern by independent school leaders,” Carter said.

”We hope this report will help brokers encourage their independent school clients to think about the risks they face and how best to protect their organisations for the future.”