The government launched yesterday (Thursday, August 5th) a reinsurance scheme for festivals, totalling £750 million.

When the pandemic began, insurers took away covid cover from cancellation policies, so any festivals having to close because of lockdown and coronavirus restrictions have not been able to claim insurance citing this reason.

The government is working with insurance market Lloyd's of London to provide the insurance scheme. "With this new insurance scheme, everything from live music in Margate to business events in Birmingham can go ahead with confidence," the chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak said.

David Jackson, managing director of Marketing Cheltenham spoke on Punchline's Business Breakfast Briefers this morning:

"I the fear is that it might be a little bit too little, too late this year. Although, here in Cheltenham we are looking forward to at least some return of festivals and events, being a festival town.

"The concern being shown by the industry in the commentary is exactly that but also 'are we going to be able to afford the premiums?' let alone whether they might be backing and underwriting the insurance policies.

"A lot of these events, particularly smaller events, perhaps some of those in around Cheltenham and Gloucestershire aren't making huge amounts of margins of profits. In some cases, some of them are charitable.

"This might be paid to your Glastonbury's and the like, but for some of the smaller players, the concern is it may not go far enough. We've already lost a lot of those this year and a lot of the capacity and the impact on the supply chain that is going to take more than just a year to recover."