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Insurance : Ex Gratia Payments______________________________________________________________________________EX_GRATIA CLAIMS1. CRITERIA1.1 Incidents occur whereby loss or damage to property is incurred byemployees or third parties but the circumstances are not covered byinsurance.1.2 In these cases, consideration will be given to applications for ex-gratiapayments as long as there are strong moral grounds or some mitigatingcircumstances leading to the loss which the employee could not havereasonably foreseen. If the incident is an accident without this criteria it isunlikely that the application will be supported as it would be imprudent for theCouncil to assume responsibility for all such accidents irrespective ofcircumstances.1.3 Any agreed payment must be met from Service budgets. There is no centralfund to meet such claims.1.4 Heads of Service have authority to assess such claims up to the value of£1,000. The Chief Executive has authority of up to £5,000. However,payments can only be made following consultation on the legal position withHead of Law and Administration.1.5 Claims for more that the authorised limit should be processed by submittinga report to the Head of Law and Administration for consideration. Whereappropriate, the report will then be submitted to the relevant Committee.2. PROCEDURE2.1 A claim form should be completed by the claimant (see attached)Forms are obtainable from the Risk Management Section (telephone 7003630). They should be completed by the claimant up to and includingSection 14. The claimant should enclose copies of relevant receipt’s, astatement from an independent witness, and a letter from the claimant’shousehold or motor vehicle insurers rejecting their claim or advising that theirown policy does not cover the situation. The claimant should then pass theform to the Head of Establishment at which the loss/damage occurred.2.2 If the Head of Establishment at which the loss / damage occurred agreesthat the incident did occur in the way described by the claimant, he/sheshould sign the form at section 15, and pass it to the Head of Service. Anyadditional information which may help in the claim assessment should beattached to the form by the Establishment.2.3 The Head of Service should consider the circumstances of the claim and,where necessary, ask for further information from the claimant or staff toensure that all relevant details are known. The Head of Service should thentake into account the following issues:Current version at June 2012 Page 3 of 6