• The UK Live Events Reinsurance Scheme will give events the confidence they need to plan through to summer 2022
• The Scheme will support live events across the country – such as concerts and festivals, conferences and business events – that are at risk of being cancelled or delayed due to an inability to obtain Covid-19 cancellation insurance

Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries have today opened the scheme worth over £800 million to reinsure live events against Covid-related cancellation.

The live events sector is worth more than £70 billion annually to the UK’s economy and supports more than 700,000 jobs, including small businesses and the self-employed. This intervention will support the UK’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by giving events the confidence they need to plan for the future, whilst also ensuring that we deliver value for money for taxpayers.

The UK Live Events Reinsurance Scheme is one of the only insurance schemes in the world to cover such a wide array of live events and without putting a cap on costs claimed per event.

The government has partnered with Lloyd’s Market Association to deliver the scheme as part of the Plan for Jobs. The scheme will see the government act as a ‘reinsurer’ – stepping in with a guarantee to make sure insurers can offer the products events companies need. Insurers Munich Re, Beazley, Arch, Dale, and Ark are carriers of the scheme with more firms coming on board in the weeks to come.

The scheme will be available from 22 September 2021 and run until the end of September 2022. It comes on top of the extensive support already given to the cultural sector, including the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund and the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart scheme. The latter has supported over 785 productions and more than 67,000 screen sector jobs in the last 12 months.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

The events sector supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country and as the economy reopens, we’re helping events providers and businesses plan with confidence right through to next year.

It’s great to launch the scheme today, giving our fantastic events sector a boost, helping the economy, and protecting livelihoods through our Plan for Jobs.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

The pandemic has been a unique challenge to live events, from gigs to business conferences. It’s a huge relief that so many are now back up and running, but it is crucial that they can also plan for the future with confidence and this scheme helps them do exactly that. With the sector contributing over £70 billion annually to our economy, it is right that we do all we can to support it and the talented people that work in it.

Michael Hirst OBE – Chair, Events Industry Board said:

The Live Events Reinsurance Scheme provides a much needed boost to event organisers to plan future events with greater confidence. Both business and leisure events are set to play a major role in the recovery of the UK economy and event organisers are eager to take advantage of growing demand and optimise business opportunities. This welcome initiative from Government will ensure the remaining schedule of events for 2021 and those planned for 2022 can go forward with greater certainty.

Sheila Cameron, Chief Executive, Lloyd’s Market Association said:

The live events reinsurance scheme demonstrates the innovative spirit for which the Lloyd’s market is globally renowned. The Lloyd’s Market Association, together with its insurer members, have worked collaboratively with HM government to ensure the live events sector has the confidence to re-open and create value for our economy. Lloyd’s syndicates remain resolute in designing creative solutions, such as the live events reinsurance scheme, that will give the events sector the confidence to realise its ambitions.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The scheme rules can be found here.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) exists to enable students to invest in their futures through higher and further education by providing access to trusted, transparent, flexible and accessible student finance services.

We have been working hard to ensure that as many students as possible start the new term with funding in place. Monday was SLC’s biggest single payment date of the first term, meaning over £1.1 billion in Maintenance Loan funding has now been advanced to students.* This is an important milestone in a year when we are on track to process and pay a record number of student finance applications.

Not all students will have their applications fully processed at term start. Eligible applicants who applied late (after the deadlines) will be awarded the minimum Maintenance Loan amount first followed by a top-up payment if they are entitled to more funding. Students can find out more about how to get their first student finance payment if they have applied late online.

However, students should be aware that their funding can only be released once we have confirmation from their college or university that they have started on their course.

Students can track the status of their payment easily via their online account. Our short film explains what each of the payment statuses mean. Bank details and National Insurance numbers can also be updated simply via online accounts.

How to view your payment dates and status

The high demand for our services is reflected in the fact that our phonelines are exceptionally busy right now. To avoid waiting in a queue to speak to us, we strongly recommend that students try to get answers to any questions they may have online first. To help with this we have published an online payment guide, packed with information and resources covering the most common payment queries.

In addition to supporting students with payment, we have also been reminding them to be on their guard against scammers. Fraudsters can target students around payment dates and in the last two academic years alone SLC’s Customer Compliance Teams have prevented £850,000 from being phished from students’ loans.

Spotting this type of activity isn’t always easy but SLC has published some fraud facts to help:

• Keep an eye out for any emails, phone calls or SMS messages you think are suspicious, especially around the time you’re expecting a payment.
• Scam emails are often sent in bulk and are unlikely to contain both your first and last name; they commonly start, ‘Dear Student’ so be on guard if you see one like this.
• Check the quality of the communication – misspelling, poor punctuation and bad grammar are often tell-tale signs of phishing.
• ‘Failure to respond in 24 hours will result in your account being closed’ – these types of messages are designed to convey a sense of urgency to prompt a quick response.
• Think before you click. If you receive an email or SMS that contains a link that you’re not sure of then try hovering over to check that it goes where it’s supposed to. If you’re still in any doubt don’t risk it, always go direct to the source rather than clicking on a potentially dangerous link.
• Potential scammers can use a variety of methods to try get students to pay money or share their personal details, including the use of fraudulent phone calls, social posts and direct messaging on digital platforms. If you are suspicious of being contacted, always use official phone numbers, your online account and official communication channels to verify the contact you received is genuine.
• Check out our guide to identifying a phishing scam at www.gov.uk/guidance/phishing-scams-how-you-can-avoid-them

*Please note these are provisional figures. Full year figures are published in our Student Support for Higher Education statistical release which will be published on 25 November.

UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s Export Credit Agency, today (Wednesday, September 22) unveiled an ambitious new plan to go net zero by 2050, decarbonising its financial portfolio and increasing its support for green exports.

As part of its new Climate Change Strategy, launched today, the new target will require UKEF to increase its support for clean growth, renewables and climate adaptation exports while also improving its management of climate-related risks on its portfolio.

This comes as the Prime Minister is set to tell fellow world leaders at the UN General Assembly today that climate change and economic growth are not mutually exclusive trade-offs but are instead each vital for the success of the other.

UKEF’s commitment is yet another step the UK is taking to prevent global temperatures rising above 1.5C and to protect our planet and people from the intensifying impacts of climate change.

UKEF currently has a capacity of £50 billion to support UK exports through loans, insurance and guarantees, issuing £12.3 billion of financial support to businesses last year. This capacity will be entirely carbon neutral by 2050 on a net basis.

In less than 50 days, the UK will host the crucial UN climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow. Financial institutions have a vital role to play in meeting global net zero commitments and UKEF is embracing its responsibility to tackle climate change.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, International Trade Secretary, said:

This plan is among the most ambitious of any Export Credit Agency worldwide. It puts UK Export Finance squarely in support of green exports to tackle climate change, level up the country and help us recover from the pandemic.

UKEF’s net zero pledge shows the UK’s climate leadership and is an encouragement for other countries to follow suit. Its world-leading financial products help British businesses capture billions of pounds worth of foreign deals, boost green exports and give hope that temperatures can be kept in check.

UKEF’s Climate Change Strategy is based on five pillars that will help UK exporters prepare for a net zero world. To end its contribution to climate change UKEF will:

• increase its support for green exports
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its financial portfolio
• improve understanding and mitigation of its climate-related financial risks
• report against climate-related commitments, enhancing transparency and disclosure
• lead internationally, encouraging others to follow UKEF’s lead and set ambitious climate targets

To ensure it delivers on its pledge, UKEF is setting realistic interim milestones to decarbonise by 2050. Over the next four years, UKEF will provide more detail on emissions for its most carbon intensive projects, establish new climate change stress testing and increase its financing for green projects. The department will then publish another strategy to detail progress on its path to net zero in 2025.

Dr Ben Caldecott, Director of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment and UKEF Export Guarantees Advisory Council Member, said:

Climate change itself and societal efforts to tackle climate change are creating structural changes in almost every sector of the global economy. This strategy is an important step for UKEF and sets out how it will systematically mitigate climate-related risks and take advantage of new opportunities. UKEF will increasingly incentivise businesses in need of export finance to align with the Paris Agreement and will help to open new frontiers for UK companies seeking to expand green exports.

Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, CEO of the Association for Renewable Energy & Clean Technology (REA) said:

The REA are very pleased to see the government take a sustainability-first approach to global trade deals and emphasise the opportunities to the UK from green economy exports. We urge UK companies to take advantage of this support and consider exporting or international growth opportunities in the Net Zero sector, as we know that renewables and clean technology can deliver great outcomes for this country and globally, from lowering emissions to improving air quality and saving people and companies money.

About UKEF

UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department, working alongside the Department for International Trade as an integral part of its strategy and operations.

Established in 1919, it exists to ensure that no viable UK export should fail for a lack of finance from the private market. It provides finance and insurance to help exporters win, fulfil and get paid for export contracts.

UKEF has already taken a lead among its global counterparts in the fight against climate change, doubling its support for sustainable exports to £2.4 billion in 2020.

The department has commitment to ending support for new fossil fuel projects overseas, launched a £2 billion direct lending facility to finance clean growth projects and developed its new Transition Export Development Guarantee for major UK exporters, backing its first Green Transition Loan to Wood Plc in August.

UKEF is now trebling the number of its staff dedicated to financing renewable exports focused on supporting UKEF’s new long-term commitment to net zero.

Contact