Lloyd’s limits underwriting room access under tier 4 rules

Following the introduction of tier 4 COVID restrictions in London this week, insurance and reinsurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London has decided to limit access to its underwriting room to just one day per week.

The room will remain open for all classes of business on Wednesdays in order to continue providing access to the market during the run-up to the January 1 renewals. However, it will be closed throughout the rest of the week, and Lloyd’s warned that people should only enter its building if it is absolutely necessary to do so.

Lloyd’s introduced these same rules during the second UK-wide lockdown in November, having only reopened in September after the first lockdown period. Over summer, the marketplace also introduced a ‘virtual underwriting room’ to help connect brokers and underwriters online.

Anyone coming into the Lloyd’s building will be required to follow the health guideline, including social distancing, washing hands regularly, following one-way systems and wearing face coverings in shared spaces, as well registering on the NHS test and trace app. The UK government announced on Sunday that London and large areas of the south east of England would be moved into a new tier 4 restriction status.

It came in response to a rapid rise in COVID cases across the country over the preceding weeks, possibly caused by a new strain of the virus that is believed to be more infectious.

Under tier 4 guidelines, there are tough restrictions imposed on social interaction and people are encouraged to stay at home when possible, but employees can still travel to their office if it is not possible to work from home.

Source: Reinsurance News