Insurance for DDA members
Ringing at your home tower
Normal ringing activities within your home tower should be covered by your church’s insurance. This cover will normally include Public Liability and Personal Accident. This should to cover you whilst you are ringing, teaching and carrying out maintenance activities at your church.
If your church is insured with Ecclesiastical Insurance then this cover will be in place and there are helpful notes on their website:
https://www.ecclesiastical.com/documents/bell-ringing-guidance.pdf
https://www.ecclesiastical.com/documents/bell-ringing.pdf
If your church uses another insurer, ask your PCC to confirm the cover provided.
Ringing elsewhere
Your church’s insurance may also cover you if you go elsewhere to improve your ringing, either individually or as a team, but this should be clarified with your PCC.
Ringing elsewhere for your own enjoyment, rather than “for the benefit of your church”, is more complex and will not be automatically covered by your own church’s insurance.
If you are helping out at another church (and not acting on behalf of the DDA) you should expect that church’s insurance to cover you if there is an accident due to their negligence, e.g., poor maintenance. If you are helping with teaching, for example, it would be reasonable to expect that church to treat you as a volunteer and cover you for Public Liability and personal injury. Again, check that the church you are assisting will cover you.
The DDA has Personal Accident and Public Liability insurance to cover members and officers in a number of ways. These cover you whilst ringing and instructing and taking part in DDA organised activities e.g. ringing or teaching at District or other Association organised events as well as travel to and from such events.
The DDA also has insurance cover in place for working on bells, fittings and framework (including carrying out inspections where this has been arranged through the Association).
The cover provided by our Personal Accident policy is:
| Full cover | |
| Death | £20,000 |
| Permanent Total Disablement | £20,000 |
| Temporary Total Disablement | £100 per week |
| Benefit Period | 104 weeks |
| Deferment Period | 7 days |
There is no age limit for the DDA’s Personal Accident and Travel policy for members, but there is a limitation of certain benefits for members aged over 75. Cover for such members only applies in respect death and certain permanently disabling injuries (the permanent loss of one or more limbs or the loss of sight in one or more eyes) and other disabling injuries such as loss of speech, hearing or intellectual capacity are not covered.
During 2025 the Management Group reviewed the existing Personal Accident policy, together with cover available from other insurers and on an individual basis and concluded that the existing policy provided best value for members. If the cover provided either by your own PCC’s insurance or the Association’s policies are inadequate for your requirements, higher levels of cover can be readily obtained through your own personal insurance policies.
Other insurance
The DDA also covers Officers of the Association (including District Officers) to protect them in case of a mistake in the execution of their duties, as well as insurance of the Association’s property.
Please contact the Treasurer if you need any additional information.