To not have insurance for my child

[Nevermakeit]

Just called up by another mum. Her DS and my DD (both aged 5) apparently bumped into each other in the playground last week, and her child knocked his tooth.

Tooth now wobbly and gum is bruised, and she has contacted her insurance for dental work - now or over the next 10 years (that is apparently the duration of the claim). I should mention, she is an expat and apparently has great insurance cover!

She is now saying her insurer needs to be put in touch with mine, as my daughter is involved in the incident. Problem is, we don't have insurance for that (I guess it would be personal liability?) - either for her or for us.
We have house insurance, health insurance (through work), and car insurance obviously.
What do others have ? Do you have insurance for yourselves or your DC, in case you accidentally hurt someone or damaged something in some way? I am suddenly wondering if we are being reckless and foolhardy not having some sort of personal liability insurance! (it's definitely not covered by our home insurance, I have just checked).

Are you in the UK?

That's crazy. I'm not sure how a five year old could be held personally liable for a playground bump. Has she got any evidence that your daughter was even involved? Any other eyewitnesses that back up her story?

If she didn't have insurance she'd be stuck paying for dental care like the rest of us. If she's from the US maybe she doesn't realise how cheap (relatively) health care is here? Aren't kids covered by the NHS anyway?

Are you in the UK? You don't need that kind of insurance here if you are. It was an accident, you won't be liable for any dental costs. The mother will find out that she's unable to claim anything and accidents are part and parcel of having kids.

I've never heard of that! Is she from the US? I can't imagine insuring your child against childhood injuries, I imagine you can just tell her that's not a thing here and we don't take our liability insurance on our children, sorry.

She's barking. If an accident happens because the school was negligent, she can sue them. They'll have insurance for that. However, it would have to be something within the school's control that they were negligent about - like if the children weren't supervised in a dangerous area, play equipment was faulty or there was a trip hazard in the playground. I can't imagine how two 5 year olds bumping into each other could constitute negligence on the part of the school.

I knew I had just read about a recent case like this actually: www.12kbw.co.uk/running-school-playground-not-give-rise-foreseeable-risk-injury/

Meant to add the conclusion of that case was - sometimes an accident is really just an accident and no one is at fault.

It was perfectly obvious, he said, that running was a desirable activity. The collision was regrettable and not B’s fault, but neither was it the school’s fault since there was no foreseeable risk of injury against which further precautions should have been taken.

The judgment will reassure schools that not every accident in a school environment will lead to a finding of negligence. If teachers take common-sense precautions such as making sure that the children are not too close together and that the surface is not unsafe, it will be difficult for claimant to show that an outdoor PE lesson posed unreasonable risks of injury.

she is an expat

Here's your answer. It's probably a legal requirement in the country where she's from.

I would say ds is insured, but not against playground bumps, he's just on mine and dhs life insurance.

Seems a bit odd that her insurance company have asked to speak to yours over a playground bump, like others have said, accidents are part and parcel of having dcs.

Life insurance is very different to dental / health insurance. She probably has to pay for treatment hence wanting to claim. Nothing you can do about it and I am 99.9% sure you wouldnt be liable for a playground accident insurance or no insurance.

Tell her politely "No my child is not insured as when children have accidents in this country they use the NHS if they have any injuries that require treatment."

bumped into each other

So her child is equally responsible. Ridiculous.

You're either not in the UK or she is not from the UK.

If you're in the UK, tell her to go see an NHS doctor and have nothing else to do with it.

If you are abroad then you need to ask locals what happens in that country.

Insurance for kids sounds hilarious though!! Insurance claims would be through the roof 😂

If you are in UK just laugh at her. My DD had a similar incident at age 4. The tooth bruised then went white then fell out. No massive repercussions only that the rest of the baby teeth followed suit quicker and at age 8 has majority of her adult teeth already.

No sane dentist would interfere with said tooth, just gotta let nature take its course.

If you live in England and Wales then this is not an issue for the reasons stated above. Think of it as an opportunity to help orientate an expat so you could pleasantly reply to her the next time "I spoke with my solicitor and insurer who both laughed and said they could quote me the case law if I was interested though you (the expat) are welcome to raise with the school and check with their insurance too..."

Good luck.

Where I live (not UK) her reaction would be at least understandable since children do carry civil liability insurance. That is not the case in the UK, and I think it probably means that in the UK children cannot in fact be held liable for accidental damage. But my gut feeling is that this mother is trying it on, since in the various European countries where I have lived parents don't tend to try to pin childhood accidents on other kids, and insurers don't press for that kind of information. The bottom line is that you need to disengage politely and tell her the NHS will treat her kid for free; if she wants private, that's her call.

I've put my daughter on my private medical insurance as we have access to a 24/7 GP and can book online appointments (fair use so no real limit).

I can get dental insurance but haven't bothered as we have a NHS dentist and what i will likely claim in a year won't cover how much it will cost me.

Are you in the UK, because if you're not then I'm not sure if the advice will help.

I have to agree with others, I can't believe that a child would be held financial responsible for this sort of accident.
Are you sure she isn't trying to pull a fast one?
If it is the case ( and I would check with an insurer if it is). I would ask her to provide proof of the incident for your insurer, also who was supposed to be looking after them at the time? There are so many loose ends in this, I would definitely, not just go on her say so.
Do not accept liability.

Just tell her no insurance.
If it's like drivers, then she will just have to swallow it. I hope she wasn't wanting to claim the cost of braces etc in the 10 year window?

Madness. Are you in the UK?

Yes, we are both in the UK, and the school is in the UK. But they are a french family, on an expat package and their insurer is in France.

It really shook me. Because then I started thinking about scenarios- what happens if you (or your child) do something very minor to someone (eg bump into someone in the street, or drop your hot takeaway coffee on a passing toddler or something similar) , and it causes lifechanging or very serious injuries (clearly NOT the case here). What happens? Are people ever insured for that sort of thing? Should we be?

I’ve never heard of this insurance in the UK. Injuries are covered by the NHS unless cosmetic?

I would just tell them that as all kids get free nhs dental care that you don't have insurance for dental work.