Find out more about what’s involved in making a claim.

What information you need need to provide

To make a public liability claim you need to send us either a formal letter of claim or a completed liability insurance claim form:

• liability insurance claim form (pdf)

You can send the completed form to us by email or by post.

insurance@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

There may be additional time required if claims are sent in a non-electronic format. Additionally, please do not submit original documents with your claim as these cannot be returned.

The more information you can give us at the start of the claim the faster we’ll be able to investigate it. We recommend you include maps and photographs too.

For claims involving roads and pavements

To make a claim you need to prove that:

• the road or pavement was dangerous
• the location had not been maintained properly
• this directly caused the incident.

The claim process

When we get a letter of claim we send the details to our insurance company. We aim to respond to you within 35 working days of getting your letter to give you our insurance details.

If we need more information than you included in your letter of claim we’ll respond within 35 days to request further information.

If the incident you’re claiming about was a result of works carried out by a utility company or contractor, then your claim may be against them, and not us. If this happens, we’ll let you know who you need to contact.

You’ll need to give us a single point of contact for you or your representative. We’ll give you the details of the person administering the claim on our behalf.

Claims can take some time to investigate and reach a decision on liability. Once our insurer has reached a decision, they will respond formally to you or your representative.

What you can do about property during the claim process

Losses can vary from one situation to another. Therefore, we can’t give you exact details of what you should do, but here’s some general advice. You might find it helpful if your property has been damaged.

You should tell both parties if you make a claim from us and your own insurer.

We won’t object if your property needs to be repaired for safety or legal reasons (for example, making sure a vehicle is roadworthy) before we have reached a decision on legal liability.

This doesn’t mean we’re admitting liability, and you should tell us when the repairs are being done.

You should be aware that repairing your property could destroy the evidence of damage. Remember to take lots of photos before repair work is done.