Standard cover for a farm policy typically includes:
•    Public and Products Liability (£10m standard)
•    Employers’ Liability (£10m standard)
•    Environmental Damage (£2m standard)
These core covers protect against injury, damage, or claims arising from your farming activities.

Some incidents that can result in a liability claim are:

• Animals straying from their normal confines on the farm and damaging third party property or causing an injury such as a road accident.
• Accidental contamination (such as from antibiotics) of the milk resulting in the dairy's rejection of the collected milk which may include milk from other farms.
• Animals causing injury to members of the policy or employees. 
• Slurry escaping from the storage facility and causing environmental damage to a nearby watercourse.

If you employ people under a contract of service or apprenticeship it is a legal requirement for most UK businesses to have employers’ liability insurance. This extends to include casual, temporary and volunteer workers in addition to full and part-time workers.

With Cornish Mutual's farm insurance, storm cover is available and must be selected. Cover is subject to the buildings being in a good state of repair and generally won’t cover damage caused by wear and tear, even if it becomes noticeable after a storm. 

This depends on your policy type.

• Home insurance: may cover fences only if the main building or outbuildings are also damaged.
• Farm / Let Property: fences, gates and hedges are typically excluded. 

If you’re unsure, we’ll talk you through it.

If a tree falls and damages your building during a storm, your policy will cover the resulting damage if your policy provides cover for storm. 

Cornish Mutual covers the cost of removing a tree to allow repairs to a damaged building if you have storm damage cover. However, if you do not have storm cover or if a tree has simply fallen without causing damage, it is not covered.

Unfortunately not. If there is no damage to insured buildings, Cornish Mutual does not cover the cost of removal. 

If your policy covers your buildings for storm, your Cornish Mutual policy will deal with repairs to your buildings. 

In most cases, no. Your neighbour should claim through their own insurer, because owning a tree doesn’t automatically mean you are at fault. 

For a third party to claim against you, it typically needs to be proved the damage was caused due to your negligence (fault). 

If you need to make a claim, contact us as soon as possible. Follow these simple steps to help your claim progress smoothly:

• Collect important information:

Try to have the relevant details to hand, including what happened (the circumstances), a description of the damage or loss and details of any third parties involved. Doing this as soon as possible helps while events are still fresh in your mind.

• Support your claim with evidence:

You may be asked to provide proof of ownership or evidence to support your claim, such as original purchase receipts, photographs, bank statements, instruction booklets.

• Photograph damage and keep anything relevant:

Where possible, don’t complete repairs before reporting your claim. Make sure you take clear photos of the damage, keep estimates and invoices, and any broken parts as they may help support your claim.

• Share any reference numbers:

If emergency services have attended (such as police or fire), share all incident or crime reference numbers with the Claims Technician handling your claim.

If you’re unsure what to do at any stage, we’ll guide you through the process and let you know what information we need.

Delays can affect your claim and, in some cases, leave you uncovered. Reporting a claim promptly is important because:

• We can appoint the right impartial expert quickly, such as a loss adjuster for property claims or a motor engineer for vehicle claims. They can assess the cause and extent of the loss, confirm what cover applies, and help reach a fair settlement where needed.
• It reduces the risk of further damage, for example from a faulty or burst water pipe. In some cases, we may be able to involve restoration experts to help minimise damage early on.
• Evidence can be lost over time, such as CCTV footage being overwritten or witness details becoming harder to obtain.
• We can guide you on next steps, such as gathering estimates or the right supporting evidence. For lost or stolen items this could include proof of purchase, such as a receipt or bank statement.

If the damage is significant and covered, we may appoint a loss adjuster to assess the damage and support you through the process.