Today the Government has announced that the live events industry is to be protected by a £750 million Government-backed insurance scheme, giving the music and hospitality sectors the confidence they need to put on our world-beating shows as we build back better.

Thanks to the success of our historic vaccination programme, large-scale events can now resume taking place across our country, but event organisers need assurance that their shows will not be impacted by emerging variants. That is why the Government has launched a £750 million Government-backed insurance scheme to protect the live events industry - ensuring that any cancelation costs to our music festivals, concerts and shows are covered in the event that they are unable to take place due to COVID-19.

A number of prominent insurers in the Lloyd’s market, including Arch, Beazley, Dale, Hiscox and Munich Re are supporting the scheme which will provide events companies with the option of purchasing cover from next month, alongside standard commercial events insurance, giving them the reassurance they need to plan ahead while also ensuring value for money for taxpayers.

This is one of the only insurance schemes in the world to cover such a wide array of live events and not put a cap on costs claimed per event. The scheme will be delivered through insurers with events organisers able to purchase cover for Government-enforced cancellation due to the event being legally unable to happen due to Government COVID restrictions, alongside their standard insurance.

The scheme will be available from September 2021 and run until the end of September 2022. It comes on top of the extensive support already given to the cultural sector, including the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF), and the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart scheme – which has seen 610 independent film and TV productions and more than 50,000 screen sector jobs supported by the scheme in the last 12 months.

More than £1 billion in support has also been provided to the sport and leisure sectors, including a £600 million survival package for a range of spectator sports severely impacted by coronavirus restrictions. It is the most generous bespoke support from any Government for its domestic sport sector in the world.

The Government-backed insurance scheme is a vital intervention that will give organisers the confidence they need to plan and invest in future live events, and will provide certainty to the thousands of businesses and jobs connected to this industry. For more information, including comments from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Culture Secretary and stakeholders, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-backed-insurance-scheme-to-give-boost-to-events-industry.