‘Urgent need’ to fill terrorism protection gap at SMEs – Pool Re

There is an urgent need to drive the adoption of proactive terrorism risk management practices among UK SMEs, as an existing protection gap leaves the sector open to severe physical and financial risks.

This is according to a panel of experts speaking yesterday (27 November 2025) at the annual market event from the UK’s government-backed terrorism reinsurer, Pool Re.

The event launched the firm’s latest whitepaper on SME exposure, which suggested that with highly complex terrorist plots likely to be disrupted by UK police, SMEs were most at risk of low-sophistication attacks such as with blunt force weapons, bladed weapons, or vehicular attacks.

According to security minister, Dan Jarvis, the UK is currently experiencing an era of increasing threats to our “security, prosperity and values”, and it is “more important than ever” that a plan is in place to mitigate these threats.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy, yet their lack of terrorism cover marks a vulnerability that threatens our national economic resilience. Pool Re’s efforts in tackling this gap remain utterly essential,” he said.

Accessible cover

Tom Clementi, chief executive at Pool Re, added: “When Pool Re was set up in 1993, our mandate from the government was to make terrorism cover accessible and affordable for all businesses in Britain.

“However, with estimates that only 5% of SMEs are covered today, there is clearly some way to go.

“Thanks to our modernised reinsurance scheme introduced in April 2025, we are now in a position to offer our members significant discounts to reinsure their SME portfolios where they can demonstrate they have reintegrated terrorism cover into their commercial property policies for SMEs as a matter of standard practice.”

He concluded: “If members reintegrate cover at scale, which over time we are confident they will, the UK’s economic resilience to terrorism will have been significantly bolstered and the market will have been returned to the position it found itself in prior to the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign of the early 1990s.”