How did the project begin?

The King’s Arms has been going for just over 20 years and was started by people from local churches recognising a need among the young people of Petersfield. The lack of things for teenagers to get involved with in the area was leading to young people engaging in unhelpful activities, and those who started the project wanted to give them a positive alternative. The project began as an open-access youth club, and has since grown to include work with schools, young people with additional needs, such as autism, and young carers.

Tell us about the exciting recent developments in the charity’s assets.

As our work grew, we expanded to have a hub in the neighbouring market town of Alton. Initially we were hiring rooms in a community centre, but we’ve now been able to lease our own premises there, as well as in Petersfield. We’re currently refurbishing that space which was previously a shop and it’s almost ready to go!

A couple of significant donations enabled us to purchase our own building in Petersfield, which happens to be Grade II listed. It’s a brilliant space, but it’s status and change of use have made sorting out the insurance a bit trickier than for a more modern building!

How have our Insurance team been able to help?

Kingdom Bank has brokered our insurance for many years. The acquisition of two new premises meant our needs changed from simple contents insurance for one leased premises to cover for two locations (one of which we own) with growing assets across the sites. Taking on a listed building was a big learning curve for us and the team were able to advise us on what we would need to do to make sure we had the cover we needed. David and Alison from the insurance team actually came to visit to get a feel for our circumstances and requirements. It was really helpful to have that personal touch and the confidence that they understood our context.

The Bank has also helped us with our employee indemnity cover. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our mentoring has moved online, but for some young people this is not accessible. There have been quite a few instances where we have reached out to the Kingdom Bank team to check whether we are covered for various aspects of meeting young people face-to-face under current circumstances. The team has always been very quick to check in with the insurer and provide us with the information we need to be able to carry out this important work.

What has all this enabled for you?

Being clear on the requirements from an insurance perspective has meant that we’ve been able to progress with the building work confident in the decisions we are making. It’s been so helpful to have the Kingdom Bank insurance team point out areas that we hadn’t considered as we’ve been formulating our plans.

It’s also been invaluable to continue to support the young people at this difficult time with the assurance that we are safe to do so.

If your church or charity is considering its insurance cover, we would love to help! Get in touch to discuss your requirements and see how we could support you.