Aswaat Insurance Information

Archive for the ‘National Insurance’ Category

Usually, the biggest mistake that taxi drivers make while purchasing taxi insurance is buying the most expensive one, only to find that cheap taxi insurance provides a much better cover compared to what they just signed up for. It is but human nature that more expensive things appear to be more tantalising, but this should not be the case when it comes to private hire insurance. While purchasing insurance you must keep in mind a few tips which can be of real help in getting affordable and cheap insurance for your taxi.

You can start with composing a list on all the known companies that offer cheap taxi insurance. A little research can help you to check the services and reputation of these companies. It is important to eliminate possible defaulters from your list and arrive at one which contains all those national and local insurance companies, which are reliable and trustworthy. The benefit of choosing a national insurance company is that your private hire insurance coverage is valid all over the country.

The next step is to collect the quotes from all the insurance companies present in your list. You can personally visit or call the company’s office to get taxi insurance quotes. Once you are done with the job of collecting quotes then is the time to do a little comparative study. Along with the prices you must also compare the coverage being offered by these insurance companies, and decide on what type of plan suits your requirement the best. A little time spent on research can be extremely rewarding. Once you have decided upon the company then you can begin the negotiations. In fact, a little skilled bargaining will help get you a good deal. It is quite common to see insurance companies quoting higher prices but leaving scope for good deals, which can only happen if you have done your homework and you know what you are dealing with.

Now if you are relatively busy and find this whole process a bit time consuming then there is an easier way out. To save on some precious time and energy you can consider shopping online for private hire insurance. The process is undoubtedly speedier and definitely more convenient. Spend some time looking up the websites of some of the insurance companies that offer cheap insurance. You can even find information on websites that offer reviews of various insurance products. One more thing you can do is to search for reliable taxi insurance brokers. You can collect the rates from different brokers in a very short period of time. It is definitely going to be a much faster process when compared to visiting or calling various taxi insurance brokers.

Once you make up your mind, you can discuss the details with the chosen insurance broker and make sure that you get the one which has maximum coverage. There are many benefits of buying your taxi insurance online. It is not only time saving but it also gives you a chance to search the markets thoroughly and get hold of the best deals available.

Risk management has been defined as the process of identifying and analyzing loss exposures, evaluating the feasibility of risk management techniques to address the loss exposures, selecting and implementing the best techniques and monitoring results, in such a manner that any organization or governmental entity can meet its objectives—minimization of the adverse effects of accidental losses.

 

It is indeed a truism that the insurance industry can play a very significant and critical role in a nation’s developmental process. In most developed and developing countries, insurance and risk management measures and practices have and continue to provide the bedrock for a sustained modern socio-economic infrastructure in which development and economic growth have flourished.

In the United States of America for example, risk management and insurance not only permeates every facet of economic and social endeavor, ranging from healthcare to governmental contracting, but is the essential engine driving innovation, development, commerce, investments, governance and societal change.

In the Sierra Leonean situation by contrast, the challenge still remains how insurance professionals and governmental policymakers can creatively utilize enterprise risk management principles and insurance techniques in both the public and private sectors to effectuate the country’s economic development and growth.

Through the utilization of enterprise risk management principles, governmental entities and organizations are provided a systematic rigorous approach to managing risk from all sources that threaten their strategic, developmental, socio-economic and financial objectives.

 As a Sierra Leonean insurance professional who over the decades with every major loss either accidental or by design in the country always retorted that insurance would indemnify the losses, whether it was the burning by the rebels of machinery for construction of the Bo/Freetown highway or the destruction of the Sierra Rutile Company’s mining infrastructure, culminating in the recent NACSA and SABABU construction contracts; the realization that our country lacks a national risk management and insurance office designed to ensure that the country recoups indemnification or is held “harmless” in such events is indeed a cause for alarm.

It is thus against this backdrop that we are articulating and advocating the development and establishment in Sierra Leone of a national insurance and risk management strategy office designed to:



Serve as a repository of all governmental contracts and agreements.

Provide technical risk management and insurance review of all past, present and future governmental contracts and agreements so that government can recoup damages from past and current insurance contracts.

Design and introduce innovative new micro insurance products and services.

Work in conjunction with ministers, permanent secretaries and professional heads of departments in establishing an appropriate and effective risk management system within their ministries to enable them identify risks, analyze risks and mitigate risk exposures, through loss control measures.

Provide insurance review of all governmental contracts and agreements for compliance with appropriate terms and conditions.

Provide loss control oversight in all ministries, departments and governmental agencies.

Protect government owned assets and minimize loss to the government and people.



It is also aimed at initiating and adding a new perspective to the wider debate of how a national insurance and risk management strategy could be utilized in addressing both macro and micro risks and loss exposures inherent in all facets and sectors of the nation’s socio-economic and governance infrastructure.

For an administration composed of insurance professionals in very key strategic positions including the President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Employment and Social Security and Minister of Trade and Industry, the need for establishment of such a “National Insurance and Risk Management Strategy” must be a no brainier and should as a matter of urgency be seriously considered in other to effectuate the President’s avowed goal of “running the country like a business“.

The basic law governing the conduct of Insurance in Sierra Leone is the Insurance Act, 2000 which established the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM). Pursuant to section 3(1) of the Act, the commission is charged with ensuring “effective administration, supervision, regulation and monitoring of the business of insurance in Sierra Leone” through the performance and exercise of various statutory functions.

While the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) and especially the Commissioner has performed a superb job over the years in its regulatory and supervisory functions, the broader insurance industry has however lagged in matching the potentials of its contributions towards national development.

The Act however does not provide for the kind of risk management and insurance oversight envisaged by the establishment of the risk management and insurance office.

As a result of its inability to innovate and increase its capacity and market reach beyond traditional instruments targeting only the formal sector, whose customers are corporations and wealthy individuals, with obligatory products such as motor insurance, the Sierra Leone insurance industry continues failing the nation.

In conclusion, government contracting personnel make daily business decisions about contract risks, insurance, limits, coverage and evaluation of insurance. Providing them with the appropriate tools and resources to assist in making these business decisions is very important for any nation‘s developmental aspirations.

al insurance contributions are paid by all employees over the age of 16 whose gross income exceeds the national insurance threshold and forms part of the taxes collected by the inland revenue. Employers also pay additional NI contributions. In years gone by there was not a record of being registered for taxes and national insurance but an actual national insurance card upon which were affixed stamps each week.

National Insurance Card – Providing Social Security Benefit

A NI Card is provided at the age of sixteen when we begin paying insurance independently of our parents or guardians. Employees under the lower age limit of 16 are exempt from national insurance contributions. It is a card which symbolises the system of taxes and social security benefits in U.K contains your unique NI number used to pay your NI contributions through, as long as you are resident in the UK. It was developed and is still controlled by the Inland Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs to provide the government, as well as consumers easy ways of paying taxes and is something that can be a similar technique to help you in business should you wish to start one. It was introduced keeping in mind the national insurance act of 1908 during the time of government expansion.

Taxes generally are made up of the tax paid by your employees, company earnings and other kind of benefits provided by the government and such taxes can also be termed as National Insurance Contributions. Any previous record of your contributions e.g. employment history are generally used to determine the availability and amount of benefit to be paid through taxes and this is where the NI Card is used by the Inland Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs.

National Insurance and Your Small Business

In business, the Government can keep your business declarations filed under your unique national insurance number to record your profit and losses and of course the amount of tax you and your business have paid because everything needs to be registered along with your NI number. The National Insurance Card is beneficial for you both personally and in business as it acts as evidence of your transactions and payments where taxes and contributions are concerned. Other countries have their own variations of a National Insurance Card but here in the UK it can be an additional item that acts as proof of your residential or working status. Employees from Outside the UK

The section of HM Revenue and Customs that deal with personal aspects of insurance contributions is the Department of Work Pensions also look after people who have come to the UK to find work and want to acquire National Insurance card. In any business where you plan to take on employees either temporarily or otherwise, you must always take the national insurance number from the employee in order to both identify the person and check their working status- in some cases a person may not be allowed to work for longer that a time specified by the Inland Revenue. It will also allow you to pay the correct percentage of their national insurance contributions and taxes. It is a good idea to obtain a copy of the passport in cases where your employees have not yet received a national insurance number or indeed do not yet know it.