Issue #90 - A few things to think about 💬
Is your business covered for riot damage? | The energy price cap looks set to rise | What’s going on with the digital switchover? | 5 businesses, 1 question | Words | Tunes | More
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Is your business covered for riot damage? 🧯
Welcome to Issue #90 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks since our last issue, as riots broke out across the UK, causing damage to people’s homes, businesses, and community centres. If the unthinkable happened and your business was affected by rioters, do you know if your insurance covers repair and replacement costs?
If you have commercial property insurance as part of your policy, this should cover physical damage to your business premises. The fixtures and fittings should be covered by contents insurance, and you may have stock insurance covering the items you sell.
But it’s not just physical damage you need to consider. If your premises are severely damaged by fire, for example, your business could be out of action for some time.
If you have business interruption insurance and there is damage at your premises, this should cover loss of trade or profit if riots are included in your policy wording.
If you have been affected by rioting or civil unrest, you should contact your insurer and they’ll be able to tell you what you can claim for and what to do next.
If you’re not insured or your insurer rejects your claim, you might still be able to get compensation through the Riot Compensation Act 2016.
If you have insurance, you’ll need to claim on that before you can make an RCA claim. So, if your car has been damaged, you’ll need to speak to your car insurer first. Likewise, if your business premises have been damaged, get in touch with your landlord or business buildings insurer.
If your claim is rejected by your insurer, you need to make an RCA claim within 42 days of the rejection. You can also use RCA if your insurance claim is partially rejected.
If you weren’t insured, you have 42 days from the date of the riot ending to claim under the RCA.
Although you can claim without a crime number, it’s worth reporting any damage or loss to the police as getting a crime number will help to prove you were the victim or rioters.
The RCA claim form is on page 20 of this government guidance sheet.
You can find out more, including what insurers class as a riot, in our 🗞 READ section below.
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🗞 READ
🔥 Energy - It looks like the energy price cap is rising
Ofgem is reviewing the domestic energy price cap later this month, and bills are expected to increase from October 1.
Although the price cap only affects domestic energy users, an increase indicates that energy prices are rising, as they have been for most of this year.
We’re not seeing anything like the price volatility we’ve experienced over the last few years, but if your business energy contract is up for renewal, now could be a good time to compare quotes and lock in your rates.
🔒 Insurance - Does your insurance cover riot damage?
When sorting your business insurance, you need to work out the major risks and cover against them. Some policies should be included as standard, like liability cover for employees and customers. Burglary and vandalism might also be covered as part of any business buildings and stock insurance, but what if rioting and civil unrest cause damage and stock loss?
And can you get compensation if your insurance isn’t enough? We explain it all in this guide.
🌐 Connectivity - What’s going on with the digital switchover?
The digital switchover, which will see all traditional landlines in the UK will be switched off, has been delayed from 2025 to 2027.
The analogue, copper wire phone network (also known as public switch telephone network - or PSTN) is still being retired, meaning you’ll no longer be able to use your landline phone from January 2027.
If you have other systems connected to your phone line, like alarms, telecare systems, CCTV, or some half-hourly electricity meters, they’ll stop working too.
Unless you make the switch to digital.
But what does that mean? And why is the old system getting switched off anyway? If you’re one of the 62.1% of business owners still using a landline in 2024, here’s everything you need to know.
🗣 SHOUTOUT
#BionicBusinessStory - 5 businesses, 1 question 🤔
When you run a business, every penny counts. Social media platforms are popular with businesses of all sizes as they offer free marketing. We asked five business owners how social media works for their business.
Bionic - Does social media help market your business?
🛹 “Our Insta is a business account because it allows me to tag products. That’s a really easy way for customers to get to our site. I initially started on a free e-commerce site, it had nice, clean modern-looking templates and was easy to set up and maintain whilst bringing up two kids. I slowly built that up.” - Mike Holmes, The Longshot Hat Exp.
💚 “Generally it’s social media we use for our marketing. We have a 50/50 split of organic search on Google and Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook. We’ve also done quite well in Facebook groups of local communities. A lot of the communities are based around us so we're able to provide word of mouth through that. When people use our products, they go on the local gossip page and talk about their experience with us.” - Reece Ashworth, The Little Green Pet Company
🍻 “We’ve got an active Instagram account, but it's not like we've got thousands of followers. I think we've got about 700 and that's people who already drink at the pub. So, they're kept up to date with us on Instagram.” - Kate Davidson, The Old Ivy
💐 “It's a bit of everything. I always say yes to radio and interviews like this. Social media is probably our main platform, we use Instagram and Facebook, but we also do things like wedding fairs.” - Anita Mattson-Hesketh, Lush Blooms
🍦 “TikTok is quite big for us and that's another motivator for my staff because I haven't got a clue and they’re really into it. So, they love creating TikToks and it's good fun for them to watch the account grow. I employ someone to do my social media in terms of Instagram and Facebook. They take good photos and take care of all the posts for me.” - Corrie Hill, Mrs Chills Ice Cream
Want to read more small business stories? Head over to Bionic 🦾
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📊 BUSINESS
Get your business costs sorted 💷
Bionic - the business price comparison experts - compare a range of business essentials to help you save time, money, and hassle.
Our tech-enabled team will answer all your questions in simple terms, and help you find the best deal on business energy, insurance, phone, broadband, or finance. No jargon. No-fuss. #BeABionicBusiness 🦾
🎧 LISTEN
Playlist 🎶
Ever get bored of a song after a minute or so and flick to the next one? Well, that will be near impossible with this week’s playlist, as each of the 57 songs (an apt number for the variety on offer) is UNDER TWO MINUTES LONG. Hence the title - Songs 2 minutes or under. Blast through 120-second classics from Allah-Las, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Radiohead, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Clash, Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, and loads more.
Podcast 🎙
We were looking through the small business forum on Reddit and stumbled across this podcast recommendation. The HeelanHub Podcast is for UK small business owners, mixing business, finance, tax tips and the practical things you need to know as a business owner, whether you are a start-up or an experienced owner looking for more education.
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🚫 STOP
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