Insurance Office

Travel

University Business Travel Insurance Procedure

Members of staff who travel on University business and students who are required to travel for course related work will be insured under the University travel insurance.

University business travel must be directly related to University business operation; linked to a compulsory element of a University award-bearing degree programme of study; or in connection with an approved overseas sporting fixture through SPORT Manchester.

Any travel which is not defined above is classified as personal travel and travellers will be required to purchase their own cover.

Prior to travel

Travellers should follow the travel flowchart and comply with the University Travel Policy. For trips to high risk countries, travellers must seek appropriate approval before travel. Further information on the University Travel Policy can be found on Travel.

All travellers should check the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website for the latest travel advice prior to travel. Further travel advice, including reports specific to countries, can be obtained from AIG Travel Assistance site.

Prior to travelling, if there is a significant change in risk, you should consider the new emerging risks and seek approval again. You must not travel against the FCDO advice without specific pre-approval.

If you are concerned about proceeding with travel arrangements, please contact Key Travel to make alternate arrangement if necessary.

What to do in the event of an emergency incident

In the event of any emergency or medical incident, whether or not it may lead to a claim, travellers should seek medical advice and/or obtain assistance by calling the AIG Assistance Team directly on tel: +44(0)1273 727416.

For non-emergency situations, email the Insurance Office.

Visa application

If a traveller needs confirmation of insurance cover for visa application purposes, email the Insurance Office and provide the following information:

Due to high demand during travelling season, please send your request at least four working days before your application deadline.

Travelling to the EU

The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) allows UK resident access to state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in the European Union (EU) which becomes medically necessary during a stay and cannot reasonably wait until the carrier is back in the UK. This includes:

Please note that GHIC provides cover in EU countries only. It does not provide cover in Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. Visit NHS site for further details.

Travel Cancellation

FCDO advice

You can claim for the cancellation of a trip if the FCDO advises ‘against all travel’ or ‘against all but essential travel’ to your intended destination, as long as the advice wasn’t in place when you booked the trip.

In the absence of FCDO advice, you will not be covered if you cancel your trip.  You should continue to monitor FCDO advice and speak to Key Travel regarding your travel arrangements.

Unexpected illness

If you need to cancel a trip due to illness or injury, you will be covered as long as the illness or accident wasn’t from a pre-existing condition or due to reckless behaviour.

Event cancellation

If an event is being cancelled by the organiser and the primary reason for your travel no longer applies, you will be insured as long as you have cancelled all your travel arrangements and sought refunds from all parties.  You must retain all written correspondence as evidence and supporting information when submitting your claim.

Civil unrest/Evacuation

If you are travelling to an area where there is a warning from FCDO for British nationals to return to the UK, you must follow advice and act on it as soon as practically possible and should seek assistance from Key Travel to help you to re-arrange your travel. Insurance will cover out-of-pocket expenditure and may help you leave the area if you are unable to get assistance from Key Travel or any other source, such as the British Embassy or consulate.

If you fail to follow advice or ignore warning, any subsequent cost would not be covered.

Overseas government travel restriction

Unfortunately you cannot make any insurance claim for additional cost as a result of regulations made by any government or public authority, such as local lockdown, quarantine or test requirements.

If you cannot go ahead with your planned trip due to travel restrictions imposed by an overseas government, but there is no FCDO advice against travel to that country, unfortunately you cannot make claim for the cost of cancellation.

If there is a lock down imposed by an overseas government while you are in the country/area, and you cannot return home as planned, you should contact Key Travel immediately to seek assistance in making alternate travel arrangement. Unfortunately you cannot make claim for additional expenditure.

Collapse of operators

There is a clause in the travel policy which excludes claims made as a result of the default of any provider of transport or accommodation.  If your trip is affected by the collapse of an airline or accommodation provider, you will not be covered.

Disinclination to travel

If you wish to cancel your trip due to personal reasons such as clashing with other commitments, or at the request of your line manager, the insurance would not cover for any loss in these circumstances.

Alternate offer from operator

If your pre-booked flight is cancelled, and instead of a full refund, the flight operator offers you a free replacement flight – even if it is with a different airline – or a free replacement flight at a later date, you cannot make a claim.

Travel claims

I want to make a claim

If you are cancelling travel or experienced a disruption to your trip, before submitting a claim, contact Key Travel or if you arranged the travel yourself, contact the travel agent, airline or hotel to seek a refund or make alternative travel arrangements. If you used a credit or debit card to make the booking, you can also contact your card provider and seek a refund under the Consumer Credit Act.

Once you’ve taken the above steps, if there are any remaining unrecoverable losses, you can submit a claim together with your original and amended itineraries and any other relevant documents, such as receipt of purchase or payment, cancellation notice from third parties and any written evidence of the refund sought, to substantiate your loss.

To make a cancellation or curtailment claim, please follow the process:

Note: you can only make claim for irrecoverable loss of transport and accommodation costs. The policy does not cover for fees, such as registration fees, placement fees, tuition fees or memberships fees.

You will need to provide evidence to support your claim and examples of the evidence are stated in the relevant sections of the guidance. Inaccurate information or lack of appropriate supporting evidence is likely to result in delays in assessing your claim, or claim being rejected.

For any other claim which is not related to cancellation or curtailment, please contact the Insurance Office for advice.

Due to the volume of requests received, please do not resend your claim request. The Insurance Office will acknowledge your email as soon as possible.

All claims will be assessed by the insurers based on the evidence and supporting information provided, and on a case-by-case basis. Personal data (including sensitive information) on the claim form is used by the insurance company but may also be shared with other relevant personnel in the University if necessary.

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