Insure your child's safety

Although you may have thought of insurance for your house, your car, your health and even your pets, have you thought about accident insurance for your children?

This is Child Safety week and although it is every parent's worst nightmare to imagine their child sick or injured, witnessing your child get into a scrape at some point in their lifetime is, unfortunately, inevitable.

According to the most recent report by the Government Consumer Affairs Directorate, it is estimated that just over 1m children aged under 18 suffer an accident in their home every year. And it won't come as much of a surprise to many parents that boys are more likely to have accidents than girls are.

While there are certain measures every parent can take to reduce the risk of accidents in the home, you can't keep an eye on your offspring 24 hours a day - especially when much of their time is spent at school. If your child is injured as a result of an accident, a cash lump sum can help to make life easier while they recover.

Children's injury insurance will provide you with a cash payment if your child suffers broken bones, damage to limbs and internal organs or has to spend time in hospital. Policies can provide a tax-free lump sum of up to £300,000 if a child is left with a permanent disability.

There are only two main providers of children's accident insurance: ACE Europe, who offer Firstcover+; and Holmwoods Schools, a subsidiary of HSBC's insurance arm, who offer Class Cover.

Holmwoods, which used to sell insurance solely through private schools, has now expanded its business to cover state schools. Gina Thomas, director of the Schools Division of HSBC, says she doesn't know why more providers don't offer such insurance.

"I think one of the reasons more parents don't take out children's accident insurance is because parents believe that if a child has an accident at school, they will be able to claim compensation from the school," says Ms Thomas. "However, they will only be covered if the accident can be proved to be the schools' fault."

The Holmwoods policy comes in three bands with Band A covering benefits up to £100,000 and plan C covering p to £300,000. Band A is available from £20 to £50 a year, depending on the age of the child and whether an adult requires cover, too, and band C cover starts at £40 and goes up to £100 a year. A legal expenses extension is available at a flat charge of £9.45 per policy and will provide up to £25,000 for legal expenses to claim compensation for an accident.

Firstcover+ also offers a home nursing service that offers free home care for up to four weeks for any child hospitalised for three days or more. Both providers cover for loss or total loss of use of a thumb, finger or big toe, for example, and Firstcover+ pays £60 a day for hospitalisation, while Holmwoods pays £30 a day.

For extra peace of mind, if you have critical illness insurance - which pays out a lump sum in the event of you suffering from a serious illness such as cancer or a stroke - your child will often be covered for those same illnesses under the terms of the policy.