When arranging certain types of policies, insurers may ask you to provide your ERN.
“But what is an ERN?” we hear you ask!
Well, here at Bloomhill Insurance Solutions, we understand that insurance is full of confusing terms and acronyms. That’s why we’re breaking this one down for you.
WHAT DOES ERN STAND FOR?
ERN stands for Employers Reference Number.
DO I HAVE AN ERN?
You will have an employer’s Reference Number if your organisation is a registered employer with HM Revenue and Customs. Also referred to as your PAYE reference, this is a unique code that HMRC use to identify your organisation or business for tax reasons etc.
Your ERN will have been provided to you by HMRC when you registered your organisation as an employer.
WHY DO I NEED TO PROVIDE MY ERN FOR INSURANCE?
Insurers will need to know your ERN if you wish to purchase Employer’s Liability Insurance. This is then kept on a database created by the Employers Liability Tracing Office, to help identify which organisations an employee has worked for, should they develop a work-related illness and then claim a long time after that period of work.
Entries for the Inspire Business Awards are now closed for 2021. We are proud to have helped insure this fantastic event!
Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2021 awards.
The winners will be announced at the gala dinner on 25th November.
There is a whole host of awards ranging from:
New Business Award of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Medium-sized business of the year, Large business of the year, Service Excellence award, Business and the Community Awards, Wellbeing at Work, Employer of the Year, Innovation for growth award, Excellence in digital technology, Young Business person of the year award, Environmental responsibility award and Winner of winners award.
They celebrate the success of local business in north Hampshire, from Andover in the west to Farnborough in the east and everywhere in between.
The awards are open to those from across the region, including Basingstoke, Fleet, Aldershot, Odiham and Yateley and will ensure leading local businesses (both large and small) gain the recognition they deserve for themselves and most importantly for the dedication and commitment of their staff.
Follow Destination Basingstoke’s Facebook page to see more about our finalists and keep up to date on news about the Awards night.
Tesla now offers car insurance in Texas, its new home state, a couple of years after launching the product in California.
According to Electrek, though, the insurance available to Texans is quite different than the one owners can get in The Golden State: It calculates for a customer’s insurance premium using their real-time driving behavior. Their credit, age and gender that are typically used by other insurance providers apparently don’t matter to Tesla. The automaker says it won’t even look at customers’ claim history and driving records.
Instead, Tesla will look at their “safety scores,” which is a feature it introduced with the Full Self-Driving Beta version released in September. That could make things quite tricky, since the premium that needs to be paid can change every month based on the conditions the driver encounters on the road. Every forced collision warning and forced Autopilot disengagement will affect their score. Following other vehicles from an unsafe distance, braking too hard and turning corners aggressively could lower their score, as well. Safety score is still a beta feature at this point, and Tesla said it should improve over time.
Owners can now apply for a quote, wherein which the automaker will assume a 90 safety score to start their policy. The price will depend on the client’s performance after that, and it could be higher or lower than what a traditional provider charges. During Tesla’s shareholder meeting, where its new home state was also revealed, Elon Musk said the company plans to upgrade its offering in California to be based on real-time driving behaviour, as well. It’s not allowed to implement the change just yet, but it’s currently trying to ask permission from regulators.
After the recent news on property fraud. I would highly recommend that everyone who owns a property signs up to this property alert service at the Land registry. Also make sure you keep your contact details up to date eg email address and service address (especially if you rent the property out make sure the service address is changed to your current address).
With winter temperatures now upon us here are some handy tips to help you plan ahead for cold conditions.
There are a number of protective measures you can consider taking to help prepare your property or business for the cold conditions, including:
Have a professional plumber check your plumbing joints for leaks.
Remember those which are hidden and keep an eye out for green discolouration on copper pipes – this could be a sign of a leak.
Review your insulation to protect your pipes from freezing.
Prevent your water supply stopcock from stiffening by testing it from time to time.
Perform a comprehensive risk assessment to evaluate ice, flood and snow hazards, including large falling icicles, significant slippages of snow from sloping roofs or roof collapse from the weight of the snow.
Develop your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) (Disaster Recovery Plan) to cater for winter-specific conditions.
Check manufacturing processes and materials to see if they’re affected by lower temperatures.
Check roofs, gutters and drains to make sure they’re in good working order. Don’t forget to follow the duties and precautions under the Work at Height Regulations even if the person carrying
out the work is not your employee.
Review any fire risk assessment; if you need to provide any additional or different heating, remember to let us know.
For the external parts of your property, consider:
Implement slip-related safety measures, such as gritting or diversion to less slippery walkways. Don’t forget that hard floors in entrance areas can become very slippery during wet or snowy weather.
Assess the exterior lighting around your premises; with less hours of daylight, it may be harder for people visiting you to see icy and other slippery areas.
* This content is by no means exhaustive and is for guidance purposes only. It’s not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. For requirements specific to your business, please seek professional advice.
Winton has arrived at Bloomhill Insurance! We were lucky enough to be the successful bidder on Winton! Destination Basingstoke hosted an event back on the 21st October in Festival Place to raise money for charity.
Whilst we didn’t win “Tommy” we secured Winton, who we are delighted with and he has now arrived at his forever home…Bloomhill Insurance!
The Basingstoke Gazette had reported that the event raised over £15,000 which was an incredible amount to raise for such a good cause.
Here are some words from the artist herself – Amy Goodman.
“Amy Goodman, once a student at BCOT, is the Artist in Residence at the University of Winchester, and an award winning sculptor. Some of her Public works include the ‘Romsey War Horse & Trooper’, and the recently unveiled ‘Arborfield Horses’. Also this year memorials to first Gurkha V.C, Kulbir Thapa rescuing a British Tommy in 1915; and the iconic nurse, Florence Nightingale have been unveiled in Aldershot.
‘Winton’ is a Winchester based hog, named after the famous alumni society of the University of Winchester.
Amy wanted to follow the band markings of a Hampshire Hog in her design, incorporating coloured countryside elements in the white areas, retaining the black areas of this distinctive pig, allowing striking contrasting details to come through in white. One of the monochrome details is one of the archways alongside Winchester Cathedral into Cathedral close. She decided to include two views of st Catherine’s hill. including the ancient mizmaze. As a nod to the previous trail ‘Sitting With Jane’, and her links to Winchester Amy painted a portrait of Jane Austen. She has included some of Winchester University’s students, King Arthur’s round table, and King Alfred’s statue from an interesting angle.
It’s lovely that the Basingstoke based company: ‘Bloomhills Insurance’ has decided to give Winton an appreciative home, and even better that all the proceeds from Winton’s sale at the Charity Auction organised by Destination Basingstoke went to the fantastic ‘Nowzad’ charity helping the vulnerable and neglected animals of Afghanistan”
For anyone that wishes to visit more of Amy’s work then take a trip to her studio at Project Workshops, near Andover. Details are below.
Project Workshops Xmas Open Studios
The Project Workshops residents are gearing up for another Open Studios Weekend on 20th
and 21st November. An ideal opportunity to purchase beautiful gifts in time for Christmas.
Artists and makers include Sally Newton, a recent addition to the creative community here. She has been very busy making stunning and varied work as part of her Residency at the local Cholderton Estate. View her elegant ink renderings, and mono prints, paintings, and etchings. She really has explored a wide range of media, and delicately and distinctively portrays the ever-evolving cycles of life, taking place on the farm.
Another relatively recent member of Project Workshops is textile artist Katy Rundle. Her love of wildlife is so originally and gorgeously represented through colour and texture with her distinctive fabric renderings. Her workshop is a feast for the senses.
Matt Duke, an experienced member of the Talos Art Foundry, and talented sculptor, won the best sculpture of the year award at the Cotswold Sculpture Park with his elegant Owl, ‘Spirit’. He will have many of his beautiful bronzes on show.
Soraya French, a world-renowned painter is starting to run her popular workshops again and has recently had another beautifully illustrated book published: ‘Contemporary Flowers in Mixed Media’.
Award winning sculptor, Amy Goodman has had three Public works unveiled this year. The Arborfield Horses near Reading; the poignant Gurkha Memorial highlighting the special relationship between the Gurkhas and British for over 200 years. It depicts first Gurkha Victoria Cross recipient, Kulbir Thapa rescuing a British Tommy in 1915. Also, an elegant bust of the Iconic Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing. Ever more poignant it seems after these difficult times we have been living through thanks to Covid 19. A great thanks must go out to so many health care professionals. She will have a range of art on display as well as fast selling little ‘Noah’ the donkey, and a 17hh stainless steel horse nearing completion.
Glassblowers Mark Taylor and David Hill will have their workshop open, displaying their exquisite hand-blown reproductions of glass from the Roman period to the 18th century. Reginald Thompson will also have some of his glassware and jewellery on show. Search for his lovely little workshop across the Courtyard garden next to Jeremy Smith, whose stunningly crafted furniture, ornate boxes, kitchen, and charcuterie boards will tempt you, and make ideal gifts. He will be running a range of woodworking courses, starting early in the New Year, aimed at both beginners and those with more experience. You will be able to reserve a place on one of these courses.
Elaine Peto will have a wonderful array of her splendid and characterful ceramic animal sculptures. She has recently added Pelicans to her extensive repertoire.
Also, the evocative and beautiful works of Hannah Willow will be on display. Of note her very latest Diary, enhanced by beautifully written text by her partner in work and life, Phil Tree. Her gorgeous illustrations feature throughout. This year focuses on trees, our ancient guardians.
Not forgetting the Talos Art Foundry which will have its doors open ready for you to view the exciting and ancient processes of lost wax bronze casting. The Talos Art Gallery will also set up a magnificent display of bronze sculptures in the foundry’s main atrium.
Exhibiting Artists & Makers: Matt Duke, Soraya French, Amy Goodman, Sally Newton, Elaine Peto, Katy Rundle, Jeremy Smith, Talos Art Foundry, Hannah Willow & Phil Tree, Mark Taylor & David Hill, Reginald Thompson
Xmas Open Studios. 10am-4pm. Sat 20th & Sunday 21st November:
Project Workshops, Lains Farm, Quarley. Nr Andover. Hampshire. SP11 8PX
