General Insurance Article - On Staycation are your possessions covered away from home

 But, warns Simon Stanney, head of general insurance at Sunlife, while medical costs will obviously be covered by the NHS, you should never just assume your home insurance will cover any personal possessions you take with you on a staycation.

  “Personal possessions cover tends to be something you will need to either add on to a basic policy or something you would choose as part of a flexible or tailored policy, so don't assume it will be in your terms as standard," he said, "and make sure you are aware of any limits in terms of overall value and the maximum level of cover for a single item.”

 When holidaying in the UK, it is fairly common for families to take quite a few of their more valuable possessions with them, for example, bikes, kayaks, and canoes, surfboards, etc, so, says Simon, it is important to check with your insurer what is and isn’t covered and then amend the policy if needed.

 He said: “Most policies will have an overall limit for items away from the home as well as single item limit – usually around £1,000 as standard - so if you are going away as a family and taking four or five bikes, you may well exceed both limits.

 “But there is no need to panic – you just need to contact your insurer and check the terms of your policy. If you do not have personal possessions you should be able to increase your cover to add it, and you should also be able to name separate items of value – bikes, jewellery etc – to ensure they are covered. For example, our insurance allows customers to increase cover levels from the standard offering to cover individual items up to £5,000 for loss, damage, or theft, in or away from home."

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