Ecclesiastical Insurance Office

Ecclesiastical is a UK insurer that has been trading since the 1880s¹. It is best known to consumers for home insurance, including cover for listed buildings, let properties and members of the clergy². Its policies are sold under the Ecclesiastical name and, for some customers, under the Ansvar Insurance name⁴.

The Ecclesiastical brand also appears as Ansvar Insurance, which is listed as a current trading name on the same register entry⁴. An earlier name, Ecclesiastical Insurance Office Limited, is recorded there too, so older policy documents carrying that name relate to the same insurer⁴.

This page covers what Ecclesiastical sells, how to get a quote, how to complain, and what protection applies to a policy if an insurer fails. It does not give rates or premiums: those are set by the insurer and change, so the firm's own site is the place to check today's figures.

What Ecclesiastical is and what it insures

Ecclesiastical's consumer-facing business is home insurance. The firm describes home insurance as cover for repairing your home or replacing your possessions if they have been damaged, destroyed or stolen³. Its contents insurance covers items in your home and your personal possessions³.

Several features are built into the standard policy rather than sold as extras. Home emergency cover is included as standard with the home insurance policy², and the same cover is described as included as standard on the buildings insurance page³. Contents in a freezer are covered up to your sum insured².

There are limits and exclusions a reader should know before buying. The most the policy pays for a child's contents in student accommodation is £5,000 in any one period of insurance². The policy provides no cover for business stock². Ecclesiastical can offer a policy to cover a let property, but it states this is not a specific commercial landlord's policy².

The firm also sells a policy designed for members of the clergy, with enhanced contents cover to take account of the extra duties done for the church³. Documentation is available in alternative formats including Braille, large print, audio, tactile and audiobook².

For the wider market, see the insurance guide and the insurers directory.

Ecclesiastical and Ansvar: one insurer, two brands

Ansvar Insurance is a current trading name of the insurer behind the Ecclesiastical brand, listed on the same Financial Services Register entry⁴. A policy bought under the Ansvar name therefore comes from the same insurer as one bought under the Ecclesiastical name, and the same protections apply to both.

That matters for two practical reasons. First, when you check a firm on the register, you are checking the insurer, not the brand on the letterhead, so a search brings up both names⁴. Second, if you are comparing cover or making a complaint, the identity of the insurer behind the brand is what determines who is answerable.

The register entry also records the firm's permissions, which include entering into a regulated credit agreement as lender, excluding high-cost short-term credit, bill of sale agreements and home collected credit, and accepting deposits⁴. Those permissions sit alongside the insurance authorisation and are not something a home insurance customer needs to act on, but they explain why the entry looks broader than the brand.

Where a firm sells insurance it does not underwrite, the insurer providing the cover is a different company. Ecclesiastical's own home emergency claims are handled on its behalf by ARAG², which is an example of a service being delivered by another firm even though the policy is Ecclesiastical's.

Paying for cover in monthly instalments

Insurers commonly allow a premium to be paid in monthly instalments rather than in one annual payment, and paying monthly usually costs more overall than paying for the year in one go⁵. The extra reflects the cost of credit rather than a different level of cover, so the policy itself is the same either way.

The practical points are these. The monthly figure is not simply the annual premium divided by twelve; the total paid over the year is higher than the annual price. Missing an instalment can put the policy at risk, because the payments are a credit arrangement separate from the insurance contract. And if you cancel mid-term, any refund is calculated on the premium paid, not on the instalments still due.

Ecclesiastical does not publish its instalment terms on the pages summarised here, so the rate and any charge for paying monthly should be checked with the firm directly before choosing how to pay. The same applies to cancellation: if you are replacing a policy, Ecclesiastical's guidance is that you need to call the previous insurers and cancel the policy yourself², and any refund of premium from that previous insurer depends on its own terms.

For how insurance charges and payments work more generally, the insurance guide sets out the market.

How to get a quote or buy a policy

Quotes come from Ecclesiastical directly. The firm states that it can offer a quote if your property is listed², which is one of the reasons people approach it rather than a mainstream insurer. It also offers cover for let property, though not as a commercial landlord's policy², and a policy designed for members of the clergy³.

That is a promotional term set by the insurer, not a feature of the cover, and it applies only to new policies taken out within the stated period.

If you would rather not deal with an insurer directly, an insurance broker is a financial adviser who specialises in general insurance, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and is paid by commission⁶. Brokers can be useful where your needs are complicated, for example a listed building, an unusual let, or a property with a claims history. MoneyHelper explains when using a broker tends to help⁶, and the British Insurance Brokers' Association sets out what brokers do⁷.

Whichever route you take, the cover itself is a contract with the insurer, and the policy wording is what governs a claim. Reading the exclusions before buying, particularly around business stock, student accommodation and let property, avoids most disputes later.

Checking Ecclesiastical on the official registers

Three public records are worth knowing about, and all three are free to search.

The Financial Services Register shows the firm's status, its reference number, its permissions, its website address and its trading and previous names⁴. It also includes firms that are under investigation, with prominent warnings⁸. If you are dealing with anyone claiming to act for the firm, the register is where you confirm the details are genuine: the Financial Conduct Authority advises checking that contact details match those listed on its Firm Checker, to avoid scammers pretending to be a real firm⁹.

The Bank of England's list of insurers incorporated in the UK and authorised to carry out contracts of insurance includes Ecclesiastical¹⁰. This is the prudential regulator's record of which UK insurers are authorised, and it is separate from the conduct register.

Companies House holds the corporate record: company number 00024869, incorporated on 3 August 1887, status active¹. Checking a company's credentials on Companies House is a standard step when you are unsure about a firm¹¹. Be aware that fake registers and directories sometimes send official-looking letters asking for payment to be listed; genuine Companies House correspondence does not work that way¹².

Complaints and where to get help

Start with the firm. If Ecclesiastical does not resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at it: the service states that if you have a complaint about an insurance company or claim, it can help⁹. It is free to consumers, and where it upholds a complaint it may ask the insurer to pay compensation for distress or inconvenience¹³.

One area where complaints commonly arise in home insurance is underinsurance, where the sum insured turns out to be less than the cost of rebuilding or replacing what was lost. The ombudsman publishes guidance on how it approaches those cases¹³. Another is the handling of a claim itself, including how long it takes and how the insurer has assessed the damage.

If your complaint is about how your personal information has been handled, the Information Commissioner's Office is a separate route: you can complain to it online if an organisation has not kept your information safe¹⁴. That is about data protection, not about whether a claim was paid.

Free and impartial help is available from MoneyHelper on insurance questions⁶, and the Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted directly once the firm has had the chance to respond⁹. If a complaint relates to debt problems arising alongside an insurance dispute, charities such as StepChange direct people to the ombudsman service¹⁶.

How policyholders are protected if an insurer fails

If an insurer cannot meet its liabilities, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme steps in. For insurance, the scheme's eligibility rules require the policy to be an insurance contract, not a reinsurance contract, issued by a UK-authorised firm through an establishment in the UK, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, and to relate to a risk or commitment insured in the UK; the failed company must have been authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority¹⁷.

For general insurance, the level of protection depends on the type of cover and when the firm failed. Compulsory insurance, long-term insurance, professional indemnity insurance, claims arising from the death or incapacity of the policyholder due to injury, sickness or infirmity, and building guarantee policies are protected at 100% where the firm failed after 8 October 2020¹⁸. Compulsory general insurance bought through a failed broker or financial adviser is also 100% protected¹⁹.

There are limits. Credit insurance is not eligible for protection¹⁹, and the scheme does not cover cases where an e-money firm or payment services firm fails²⁰. Businesses of any size are covered for claims under long-term insurance and compulsory general insurance, but not across the board²¹.

Two further points matter for a home policy. First, the policy summary for pure protection contracts must state whether compensation may be available from the compensation scheme if the insurer cannot meet its liabilities, or that there is no scheme²². Second, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 protects policyholders in some respects but not for mid-term information disclosures, so an insurer may reject a claim even where the policyholder took reasonable care²³. That is a rule about what you tell the insurer, not about the insurer failing.