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22 Summer 2021 T he events industry has undeniably been one of the worst a ected by Covid-19, with hundreds of thousands of events being cancelled or postponed during the pandemic. As of July 19th or Freedom Day as it has been dubbed, restrictions around events have eased with Prime Minister Boris Johnson con rming that mass events, including festivals, can now go ahead. This will have been the music to organisers’ ears that they’ve been looking for. THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 Event Insurance has long been around to protect organisers from the unexpected, whether they’re hosting a local charity event or a big-scale conference. However, the landscape of protection may have changed as a result of Covid. Coupled with the hardening market as the demand for Event Insurance grows again, prices may increase. Another concern is that despite the need for policies to protect event organisers against cancellations as a result of Covid-19, in reality many may not. CALLS FOR SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENT Following the announcement that the nal restrictions would be removed on 19th July, Paul Reed, Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, welcomed the news but called for a Government-backed insurance scheme. He said: “We now urge Government to nally act on insurance and announce a Government-backed scheme immediately. Insurance remains the key obstacle to planning with con dence and there is no rationale for not implementing such a scheme if the Government’s roadmap is truly irreversible.” Back in May, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee released a report titled ‘The future of UK music festivals’ that also called on Ministers to provide a safety net for live events scheduled to take place after restrictions eased by introducing a time-limited insurance scheme. It is hoped that it would be similar to the £500m scheme introduced to help the lm and TV industry last year. The Government however ruled out o ering any support before all restrictions on the roadmap are lifted, according to the DCMS. The DCMS stated: “Government- backed insurance is crucial to mitigating the Covid-19 related risks to festival organisers and enabling them to start planning, as the vast majority do not have the nancial resilience to cover the costs of another year of late-notice cancellations. “Although there remains considerable uncertainty around the risks of new Covid-19 variants, the government’s plan to wait until all restrictions are lifted will simply be too late for festivals this summer.” A look at the event sector in a post lockdown world. THE MAIN EVENT