Please read this document carefully and retain a copy for your records

The Financial Conduct Authority

The Financial Conduct Authority is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Evans and Lewis Insurance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our  Registered number is 550774 and you can check our status at www.fca.org.uk/firms/systems-reporting/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. Our permitted business includes advising, arranging, dealing in and assisting with the placing and administration of all types of General Insurance policies.

1. Data Protection and Privacy Statement

We are a data controller and our data protection officer is EVAN LEWIS WILKINSON

We act as your agent and will collect data, including personal information and risk details, solely to enable us to obtain and provide insurance quotations, arrange and administer your insurance. Data collected by us is contractual, and for our legitimate business interests as an insurance broker and we will be unable to offer any quotation or insurance if you refuse to provide certain personal data, including health, financial and criminal records data which is collected under the lawful basis of public interest, where these would affect the provision of cover and/or performance of insurance contracts. Your information will be held securely by us and shared with insurers, which could include reputable providers in other countries, to enable them to provide accurate terms and they will also obtain data about you and your insurance history from various insurance anti-fraud databases, such as the Claims and Underwriting Exchange (CUE) as well as publicly available websites and credit referencing agencies.

We will also share your information with other Insurance Companies and other Brokers or Agents for the purpose of obtaining quotations and arranging cover, this may result in a Credit Check to confirm your identity and minimise the risk of fraud, but we will not give anyone else any personal information except on your instructions or authority, or where we are required to do so by law, or our regulatory requirements. Information about you and your insurances will be held while you are a client and for a minimum of three years, and in certain circumstances up to six years, after expiry of your policies. Under the Data Protection Act data, subjects have the right to see, and correct, personal information about them that we hold. Please write to our data protection officer at our usual office address if you wish to exercise your rights or have a complaint about our use of your data.

2. Our Service

We are an independent insurance broker, who acts on our customers’ behalf in arranging insurance. Our services include: advising you on your insurance needs; arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements; and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make. As part of our service, we will assist you with any claim you need to make and tell you what your responsibilities are in relation to making claims. If you mislay your policy at any time, we will issue a replacement policy document, if you request it.
Evans and Lewis’s bank account is held at HSBC, 64 High Street, Newcastle, Staffs, ST5 1QN .
Whose products we offer We usually offer advice from a limited panel, or single insurer. We may use providers who will conduct a credit check, which will be recorded on your credit record. Please contact us if you do NOT consent to a credit check being undertaken, however this may affect our ability to offer installment facilities to you. In relation to the provision of credit, we offer only the facilities provided by Insurers, or those of Close Premium Finance/Premium Credit Ltd
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your demands and needs. Our advice will be confirmed in a demands & needs and suitability statement, giving reasons for our recommendation.

3.  Holding Deposits

Any holding deposits that are take prior to the inception of a policy are non refundable in the event of a policy not going ahead. Occasionally we may arrange a policy on which we earn no commission and in these cases we will advise you of the arrangement fee before you take the policy out. We may also make additional charges specific to the arrangement and servicing of certain policies, but these will always be advised to you in advance.

Prior to the conclusion of each insurance contract, or upon renewal, we will remind commercial policyholders of their right to be advised of the level of commission which we receive from underwriters. You are entitled, at any time,
to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business.

4.  What you will pay for our services

We usually receive a commission from the insurer with whom we place your business and, in addition, we normally make the following charges/fees to cover the administration and underwriting of your insurance:

EVANS AND LEWIS INSURANCE MAY CHARGE BROKER  FEES ON  POLICES  SOLD . THESE MAY BE INITIAL POLICY FEES AND ALSO ADDITIONAL FEES ON ADDITIONAL COVER. THE BROKER FEE AND ANY ADDITIONAL FEE COMBINED  AS A TOTAL , WILL NOT BE HIGHER THAN THE TOTAL OF THE INSURANCE PREMIUM AND THE INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX.

Failure to disclose material facts which results in the insurance policy being cancelled will result in NO refund of the monies paid. Any policies with pending claims will receive NIL refund on cancellation.

5. Cancellation Procedure 

All cancellations must be put in writing  and sent to us by post with the full policy documentation and  returned to Mark Snow, Evans and Lewis Insurance, Holborn Court, Bridge Street, Newcastle , Staffs   ST5 2RX and will be processed accordingly.

6. What to do if you have a complaint

Our aim is to provide a first class service, however, if you wish to register a complaint, please contact us by writing to Mark Snow, Evans and Lewis Insurance, Holborn Court, Bridge Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 2RX or, by phone 01782 660590, by fax 01782 661396.

We will provide you with a copy of our full complaints procedure and respond to you promptly. We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint and aim to make a final response to you within eight weeks, or keep you informed as to why this is not possible. In the event that your complaint relates to activities or services provided by another party, we will ensure that your complaint is appropriately forwarded in writing, and will track the progress of the complaint and responses of that party. After our final response has been issued, if you still cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, for an independent assessment and opinion.
The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123 and their address is: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9SR

7. Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms, like ourselves. The FSCS can pay compensation if an authorised firm is unable or likely to be unable to pay claims against it, usually because it has gone out of business or is insolvent.
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without an upper limit. For compulsory insurances (for example, motor insurance and employers’ liability insurance), insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without an upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

8. Payment Options

We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque or the following credit/debit cards – Visa and Mastercard,. You may be able to spread your payments through insurers’ instalment schemes or a credit scheme, which we have arranged with an established insurance premium finance provider, however rates and acceptance may be subject to a credit check. l.
Please Note: Your policy cover will cease if you fail to keep up payments on an instalment agreement .We may receive interest on monies held.

9.  Language Used

The English language will be used for all communications, the contractual terms and conditions, and any information we are required to supply to you, before and during the duration of the contract.

10.  Information on how we treat Payments You make to Us

Under the terms of our agreements with the Insurance companies with whom we place business, we normally receive premiums you pay to us as Agent of the Insurer. All insurance premiums you pay to us are protected in a Statutory Trust Client Account until we pay insurers. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the course of arranging and administering your insurance.

Your Duty to Give Information

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance. It is important that you ensure that all statements you make on proposal forms, statements of fact, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate.
Please note that if you fail to disclose any information or change in circumstances to your insurers which could influence the cost, or their decision to accept your insurance, this could invalidate your insurance cover, and could mean that part or all of a claim may be not be paid.