You will need to check your specific policy to determine if you have a valid claim. This will be in your policy documents, most likely in a Policy Schedule or in your Insurance Product Information Document (IPID). If in doubt, you should contact your insurer or broker. Policyholders should note that all claims may not be valid and that cover may not apply in all instances.

In the first instance, you should contact your insurer or broker as soon as possible. Details of how to make a claim will also be outlined in your policy documents.

Your insurer is required to help you make a claim and give you appropriate information on its progress. If you used an insurance broker to buy the insurance, they may also be able to help you with your claim.

However, due to the complexity of the claim or other reasons, you may wish to appoint a claims management company/public loss assessor to deal with the insurer on your behalf, at your own expense.

Your Insurance Product Information Document and Policy Schedule should state the term of the contract, including the start and end dates. If in doubt, you should contact your insurer or broker.

You should contact your broker, insurer or other advisor about how to make a claim.

If your claim is affected by the outcome of the High Court judgment, you will be contacted by your insurer or your broker regarding what the judgment means for you. However, if you do not hear from your insurer or your broker and you believe your business interruption policy is responsive to COVID-19 you should follow up with them directly.

Your policy cover or claim is affected by the outcome any court/legal decisions, you should hear from your insurer or broker regarding what the outcome means for you. However, if you do not hear from your insurer or your broker you should follow up with them directly.

Each claim is assessed on a case by case basis to determine whether the policy provides valid cover for the effects of COVID-19. Policyholders are encouraged to contact their broker, insurer or other advisers for further information and support with the claims process.

If you disagree with your insurer’s or broker’s final decision on your claim or believe you have not been treated fairly, you can make a complaint through the insurer’s or broker’s internal complaints handling process.

If you are unhappy with your insurer’s or broker’s response to your complaint and you are an eligible complainant, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO), which helps to resolve individual consumer complaints.

The Central Bank has written to insurance firms to make clear our expectation that where a legal action is accepted as a test case, given the potential financial burden imposed on a customer in taking a legal action, the relevant insurer should agree to pay the reasonable costs of these customers. This means customers should not experience financial loss as a result of being a plaintiff in test case litigation, in circumstances where such litigation would resolve issues of dispute for wider groups of customers.

Contact your lender as early as possible to discuss your options.

If you can't afford to repay your loan or credit agreement , or need additional working capital due to COVID-19 – or any other reason – you should contact your lender as early as possible and discuss what options are available to you.

The Central Bank’s clear expectation is that lenders engage effectively and sympathetically with you – in line with, the Consumer Protection Code and regulations for lenders lending to SMEs – to deliver appropriate solutions and facilitate as many borrowers as possible to return to repaying their debt.

Your lender will consider your particular situation and discuss a range of options to help you deal with financial difficulties at any stage. Every borrower’s circumstances are different, but options may include:

• A reduced payment for a period of time, which could be less than or greater than interest only;
• An “interest only” arrangement is where you only pay the interest payments on your loan for a period of time.
• A temporary increase to your working capital facilities where it is agreed with your lender, for example, to address temporary liquidity issues.  
• A payment break where you agree with your lender to postpone your repayments, or agree a reduced payment where your loan repayments are reduced for an agreed period of time

Our consumer protection framework, including the SME Regulations, and the Consumer Protection Code, is designed to protect your interests, particularly in times where you may experience financial difficulties. All regulated lenders should engage with you sympathetically and positively, with the objective at all times of assisting you to meet your loan/ obligations. We are monitoring this process to ensure the requirements, and our expectations, are being met.

And remember, if you are in financial difficulty or potential difficulty, our existing consumer protections are there to protect you.

Engage with your lender as early as possible.

In accordance with the Central Bank Regulations for Firm’s lending to SME’s, where a borrower notifies its lender that it may be at risk of going into arrears, or a borrower in arrears notifies its lender that it is concerned about going into financial difficulties, the regulated lender must offer the borrower the option of an immediate review of the borrower's credit facility

agreements, alternative arrangements and security, as appropriate.

Your lender will provide you/your business an information booklet containing the lenders procedures for dealing with borrowers in financial difficulties, including relevant timelines.

For SMEs, there are protections in place such as the SME Regulations, which outline various lender obligations. The Regulations outline each regulated lender’s obligations in areas such as:

• Arrears
• Policy for financial difficulties
• Standard information for borrowers in financial difficulties
• Communicating with borrowers in financial difficulties
• Independent reviews
• Alternative arrangements
• Operation of alternative arrangements
• Appeals

Under the Regulations, borrowers are entitled to an internal appeal of a decision made by a lender. Lenders are required to have an internal Appeals Panel for this purpose. In addition, SME borrowers in danger of being classified as not co-operating must be provided with a warning.

It is important to engage with your lender as many of the protections only apply if you engage with your lender.

In addition, the Central Bank has written to lenders laying out how they should support borrowers affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• Dear CEO Letter - Expectations for lenders in supporting borrowers affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

You can apply for support by contacting your lender.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties due to COVID-19 and you want to apply for support, you should contact your lender as early as possible.

The Central Bank has published the SME Regulations and the Consumer Protection Code with which regulated lenders (other than credit unions) must comply.

The Regulations include various protections for SME customers who may be at risk of going into arrears, or are in arrears.

If your circumstances change after agreeing an alternative repayment arrangement, including if they improve, you should let your lender know as soon as possible. The arrangement you are on might not be appropriate any longer, so they will review and consider what other options are available.

This can be a difficult time for borrowers, so engaging with your lender and affording yourself all the protections in place is the best option.

For a range of other SME supports please seeGovernment supports for COVID-19 impacted businesses.

For all matters in relation to the Central Credit Register and credit reports, please visit the Central Credit register website which has a list of Frequently Asked Questions for borrowers.

The Central Bank is working constructively with all the sectors it regulates, recognising the challenges they face to maintain continuity of business and provision of service to customers in light of the global public health emergency caused by COVID-19.

Our core focus is on ensuring that the financial system can continue to provide services to households and businesses at this difficult time. We also expect regulated firms to have appropriate contingency plans in place to be able to deal with major operational events should they occur.

The retail banks and credit unions have business continuity plans, including contingency plans, in place on how to assist you if there are branch closures due to business disruption.

We expect banks to have alternative arrangements in place so that they can continue to provide services to you, including information on how to access banking or credit union services if some branches or offices have to close. We will continue to work with banks and credit unions to ensure that where they have to take the decision to close certain branches, that small businesses who do not have online facilities will be able to avail of an alternative means to access their account. We expect firms to communicate with you to let you know how you can access their services.

We expect regulated firms to have appropriate contingency plans in place to be able to deal with major operational events, should they occur, and we are engaged with firms across the financial system to ensure that firms are responding effectively to the evolving situation.

We expect banks and credit unions to have alternative arrangements in place so that they can continue to provide services to you, including information on how to access banking and credit union services if some branches or offices have to close. We will continue to work with banks and credit unions to ensure that where they have to take the decision to close certain offices or branches, that small businesses who do not have online facilities will be able to avail of an alternative means to access their account. We expect firms to communicate with you to let you know how you can access their services.