Clubs Compulsory Personal Accident Insurance Cover
As part of its support to clubs, the IRFU provides subsidised Clubs Compulsory Personal Accident Insurance Cover. Taking into consideration the number of clubs and teams (Age Grade & Adult) the total cost of this scheme is Euro 1.9M/Annum.
Through the Domestic Game Budget an allocation is made to reduce the total cost to clubs by 33%. While there has been fluctuation in insurance costs, the premium has remained steady for the last 5 years at €;2,376 [£1,767] / team.
The IRFU only requests insurance premiums for adult teams; there is no insurance premium requested for Age Grade teams (up to and including U21), 1st year Women’s Adult Teams and College teams.
Clubs can achieve further reduction in the overall cost of their insurance through the following IRFU schemes:
1. An additional subvention of approximately €;400/adult team through complying with the Serious Injury Reporting process, Submission of Annual Accounts and timely payment of insurance premiums. This subvention is scheduled to continue to the end of the 2014/15 season and will be reviewed for future seasons.
2. The IRFU Club Support Scheme (CSS) allows clubs to receive grants from the IRFU for the number and/or increasing the number of adult teams (refer to the Participation Grant section of the CSS documentation). The Participation Grant is designed to reduce the insurance cost to clubs as they grow the number of teams.
3. Taking into consideration points 1-2 above, and there is the potential for clubs to reduce their insurance costs to approximately €;500/adult team.
Often the IRFU is compared to other team sport insurance programmes and it is important that the following is taken into consideration
• The scheme is designed to provide the appropriate benefits for a serious/critical/catastrophic injury. It is not designed as a medical insurance programme. Through Aon Group, clubs can avail of additional top up personal accident insurance including some cover for medical expenses.
Further information can be found at https://www.irishrugby.ie/club/clubhouse/insurance.php
• The IRFU only requests a premium for adult teams. Other sports request a premium for all teams, including Age Grade teams.
• The highest benefit that can be achieved for catastrophic injury through the scheme is €;1.5M.