Insurance

If something happens to you, or to your property, and you believe that we’re at fault, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.

Just because an accident has happened it does not mean that we are legally liable.  As we have a duty to protect the public funds that we administer we can only pay claims if we are legally liable.

How to make a claim

There are two ways to make a claim. You can:

• Make a claim through a solicitor, who will contact us and provide us with all of the necessary information; or
• Make a claim by yourself by completing our online claim form.

Before you make a claim

Please make sure that you read the information below very carefully before you make a claim against the Council. It is often much quicker to claim against your own Insurers - most policies offer new for old cover. If we are found to be at fault, any payment for loss or damage may be subject to wear and tear, depending upon the age of the items that have been lost or damaged.

• If the injury, loss, or damage was caused by one of our contractors you should make a claim against them, as they're responsible for insuring their staff and vehicles.
• Some roads within the Borough are the responsibility of Transport for London, and any claims for loss or damage should be directed to them.
• If your leasehold property is damaged, you should contact the Leasehold insurers directly.
• If your motor vehicle has been damaged you should contact your Motor Insurers first.
• If your property or contents have been damaged you should contact your Buildings or Contents insurers first.

Make a claim

Completing the claim form

• You will need to complete all of the sections, providing us with as much information as possible.
• If you don’t give us enough information we’ll not be able to process the form as quickly, and the protocol period for investigation will not begin until you have provided enough information.
• You must also give us evidence to support your claim. This evidence may include clear photographs of the defect (both from a distance, to show the surrounding area / street scene, and close up, clearly marking with a cross exactly where you slipped / tripped), photographs of the damaged items, receipts, estimates, or invoices. We may request to see the damaged items.  You may email this additional information to insurance@kingston.gov.uk, or to our postal address.
• If you are claiming because you have hurt or injured yourself, by tripping or slipping, you may have to visit the place where the accident happened with an officer of the Council to discuss this in more detail.
• By completing the form you are agreeing that all of the information that you have provided is true to the best of your knowledge and ability, and that you understand that persons who make fraudulent claims may be prosecuted.
• We are required under section 6 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to participate in the National Fraud Initiative data matching exercise.  The data held by The Royal Borough of Kingston will be used for cross-system and cross authority comparison for the prevention and detection of fraud.
• The information provided to the Royal Borough of Kingston will be used to enable the claim to be processed, and the information may be shared with our legal representatives, contractors or outside bodies who may be involved with the defence of the claim.

How the claims process works

• If you wish to make a claim directly against the Council, you can  complete our online claim form.
• Completing the form does not mean that you’ll automatically receive compensation.  Compensation can only be paid if we are legally liable.
• Once you have completed the form, we’ll let you know that we’ve received it within a few days. We will also provide you with details of the claims handlers that will be acting on our behalf.  
• You should contact them directly if you have any queries regarding the processing of your claim.  
• You will still need to contact us directly to provide us with any additional information or documentation that we have requested.
• All claims are thoroughly investigated following all relevant legal protocols. This means that we’ll ask for reports from various departments.
• Our claims handlers will closely examine all of the reports and evidence that has been provided, and will let you know whether the Council is legally liable or not.  
• This may take up to 3 months from the time that you provide us with all of the necessary information to begin to investigate.
• If you’re unhappy or disappointed with the decision that has been made we would strongly advise that you seek independent legal advice or speak to your local Citizens Advice Bureau.  You cannot use the Council’s complaints procedure to appeal against a legal decision.