Crombie Lockwood has confirmed that it will pay out to hundreds of childcare centres in New Zealand amid the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic due to a special arrangement.
Crombie Lockwood will provide up to $62,500 to childcare operators that have lost their income due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, those that took out business interruption cover under Child Proof scheme policies will receive up to 25% of an annual turnover of up to $250,000.
“The policy will reimburse you for lost income during the period of ordered closure, which may include a loss of parents’ fees, WINZ subsidies, any other subsidies, and any reduction in the [Ministry of Education] bulk funding during the closure period,” Crombie Lockwood said on its website.
“[We have] been working with Lloyd’s of London to ensure that all Child Proof policyholders are honoured up to the expiry date of their existing policies. However, a COVID-19 exclusion will be applied for new policies and future renewals. This exclusion is not unique to our scheme but is being applied to pandemic policies worldwide by insurers.”
Peter Reynolds, head of the Early Childhood Council, commented that the funds would help centres struggling financially.
“It’s been our recommendation to our members not to charge parents’ fees, but we realised that it puts them at considerable stress. They’re having to struggle with this. They’re having to do their sums right now and see just how long they can survive,” he told Newshub.
Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), added: “This arrangement is very unusual. By far, almost all business interruption policies these days and for a number of years have had an exclusion in them for pandemics, and they have exclusion for war and other things that are just too catastrophic and astronomical in their costs to be able to insure.”
