Business travel and personal accident insurance

The University's travel insurance policy covers staff and students travelling on University business outside the UK. Within the UK, there is cover for scheduled flights, train or ferry journeys and/or where there is an overnight stay away from home. Travel must be booked through the University’s travel providers (Key Travel and DP&L) for insurance cover to apply. 

There may be situations, however, where University travel may be being booked directly by another party. If you think that your travel should be covered, please contact us to check.

The maximum travel period is 365 days between leaving the UK and returning to the UK. For longer periods away, please contact us to discuss your insurance needs.

The cost for requesting travel insurance is borne centrally by the University.

There is no longer a requirement for issuing travel insurance cover notes - travellers will now require access to documents at the bottom of this webpage.‌

Travelling outside the UK

Before booking University travel, please check the Travel Advice page on the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website. This lists countries, and parts of countries to which the FCDO advises against all travel, and all but essential travel to.

Travel insurance will be invalidated if travel proceeds against the FCDO advice.

If the FCDO advise 'against all but essential travel', prior authorisation of the University's Executive Group is required. Please contact us for advice.

If you require confirmation of insurance cover for a visa application, please contact us to request this.

Student insurance

You are covered if you are travelling on what is termed ‘University business’.

In some cases (e.g. a field trip) your School will be responsible for booking your travel through the University’s travel providers – and travel insurance will automatically apply.

In other cases (e.g. a student exchange trip) you may be booking your own travel. Insurance can be arranged but the request must come from your School.

You do need to arrange your own insurance for any period of holiday tagged on. There is no cover for changing country in your spare time unless there is a University reason for you to do so.

Medical conditions

Travellers with pre-existing medical conditions are covered under the policy and the cover includes emergency medical treatment for their pre-existing medical condition. The only requirement made is that the proposed travel is not being taken against medical advice.

Cover is for emergency treatment and not for routine treatment or prescriptions, so ensure you have sufficient supplies of your routine medication.

If you have any concerns about this, please contact us.

Pregnancy

There are limitations to cover for pregnant travellers. Travellers travelling before 36 weeks gestation and with their doctor's consent to the trip, are covered under the policy and the cover includes emergency medical treatment in respect of the pregnancy. However, pregnant travellers who reach 36 weeks gestation before or during the trip are not covered under the policy.

Personal travel

There is no cover for personal travel under the University’s travel insurance policy – so holiday tagged onto a business trip is excluded.

For further information on the University’s travel contracts for Key Travel and DP&L, please see the Procurement sharepoint site.

Making a claim

If you require to make an insurance claim, please contact us as soon as possible in order to be advised on what paperwork is required for a claim to be submitted on your behalf.

Please do not request a claim form direct from the University’s travel insurer, U.M. Association Limited (UMAL).

Note that claim forms must be submitted within 30 days of the date of incident.

After your insurance claim has been submitted to the University's travel insurer, claims can take up to 5 weeks to settle.