Tenants Contents Insurance Scheme for the London Borough of Hillingdon

The London Borough of Hillingdon (the Council) is seeking to appoint a sole supplier for the provision of its Tenants Contents Insurance Scheme. The proposed new contract will be for 3 years, from 1st April 2018 with the option to extend for a further 2 years beyond the initial contact term. The current contract expires on 31st March 2018. The Tenants Contents Scheme is an insurance product for Hillingdon's tenants who find themselves financially excluded from the mainstream home contents insurance market. Currently 812 tenants buy into the Tenants Contents Insurance Scheme, which is just under a 10% take-up rate. The scheme is not intended to rival individual contents policies offered by mainstream insurance providers and unlike these standard contents insurance policies, the Tenants Contents Insurance Scheme has minimal entry criteria, to ensure the scheme is as inclusive as is reasonably possible. The Tenants Contents Insurance Scheme has two significant features. The first is that, unlike mainstream policies which charge by monthly direct debt or an annual premium,tenants purchasing insurance through the Tenants Contents Scheme pay a weekly premium which is collected with the tenant's rent. Secondly, it offers tenants the ability to purchase cover for smaller sums insured than mainstream policies, with sums insured on the Tenants Contents Scheme starting as low as £5,000. The majority of mainstream policies provide minimum sums insured that exceed the requirements for these low income households. The value of this contract is estimated at £320k based on the premiums over a 5 year period.