Aibu to think school should have travel insurance

[frasersmummy]

Be gentle with me.. Maybe this is the norm but I wanted to check

Ds(13) is going abroad with the school
For the first time and his latest letter says their is no insurance available through the council.

So we will all néed to provide our own. Not sure how the school is going to cope with all these teenagers with their own documents but that is their headache

But I would have thought they should have some level of insurance to take the kids away

how would they budget and pay for insurance for trips that may or may not take place that covers potentially thousands of kids at different ages/conditions etc?

I thought most schools always did have travel insurance, so perhaps this is a new thing.

I can't see why teenagers having their own documents is going to be a headache though. They are unlikely to need them, so it's not as if teachers will need to check them (unlike the passports!)

Is this an Academy thing? When I took school trips they were always covered by LA insurance. In latter years it was a disclosed part of the parental contribution to the cost of the trip.

Public bodies often don't have insurance, but self insure via their parent department and ultimately the Government, because it is cheaper and more effcient to just pay up, even in expensive travel insurance or similar claims, than organise and pay for and ultimately claim against lots of individual travel insurance policies.

I work for a public body and we don't have public liability insurance, which is usually strongly recommended for businesses and some customers require it. We have a standard letter that we supply to our clients on request explaining this.

As far as your school is concerned. They may take the opinion that the cost of travel insurance should be borne by those taking the trip, so that's why indiviudal participants have to have it, rather than them taking the risk on themsevles or doing a group policy, where they would have to collect details of all pre-existing conditions from those going on the trip.

It's not an academy.. I get its expensive and can't cater to everyone.. I just thought as part of the cost there would be a basic insurance based on the activities they will be doing which parents could top up. If necessary.

I read that due to the amount of parents choosing to threaten to sue/claim on insurance because of issues it was getting harder for schools to insure for trips.

My DS has done a few overseas trips with school.
They have always provided insurance, it's been included in the cost.

Challenge this. Sounds weird.

I would have thought they would have added insurance onto the cost of the tickets. But given lots of people have annual travel insurance already it would be a waste to ask people to pay for double insurance.

So can see why it would make sense to ask parents to sort it out if they need it.

Wow, I'm amazed that the school would even offer a trip without ensuring insurance was included, checking everyone has adequate insurance will be a nightmare!

If the school is using a company that specialises in trips for schools they are bound to offer insurance, it will be an extra cost but note that much.

In the event of a claim whilst a child is abroad with the school, I wonder if teachers would have problems dealing with insurance companies due to data protection???

Persian.. That's a really good point.. Will ask about this

Bonkers, the company organising or the LA always provide insurance. I always ensure it is included before organising a trip.

our insurance has always been covered by the cost, although I usually take an extended one out myself.

I'm a teacher at a private school and we have insurance for all of our trips which is covered by the cost quoted to parents. I thought it was a requirement for all school trips, but maybe it's just our school. However, students need their own insurance, if they wish, for their possessions against damage, theft, etc. (usually covered by home contents insurance or the family's travel insurance).