A Change for Danny

Our Campaign to Remove the 14-Day Clause

Hello, welcome, and thank you for taking the time to visit A Change for Danny.

The purpose of this website and the A Change For Danny campaign is to lobby for a change to the current 14-day, “no-claim” clause imposed by almost all UK pet insurance companies. This website, and the change we’re asking for, is as a direct result of us losing a beloved family pet, Danny, in November 2020. Unfortunately, because his pet insurance had just been changed, he was not covered for the veterinary bills amassed during his treatment. 

At the time of his new insurance, there were no signs of him being unwell, and unfortunately, from diagnosis to him being put to sleep was just two days. Even though he had been previously insured, with no break of cover, and even with the same insurer, because it was a new policy, the insurer refused to cover any costs. A Change For Danny wants to see an end to this 14-day clause.

What we want to see is a change in the way pet insurance is offered here in the UK. It is of our opinion that when you take out pet insurance cover, like the majority of other types of insurance policies (for example, car or holiday insurance), you should be covered from the moment the policy comes into force. There should be no period where your pet is not covered.

Over the years I’ve come to appreciate how animals enter our lives prepared to teach and far from being burdened by an inability to speak they have many different ways to communicate. It is up to us to listen more than hear, to look into more than past.

Nick Trout, British-Born Veterinarian and Author
A Change For Danny
Read Danny's Story in Full

insurance
/ɪnˈʃʊər(ə)ns/
noun

  1. an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium.

  2. a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality.

Definitions from Oxford Languages

Insurance is often offered by companies acting as brokers to the underwriters. It is the underwriters who set out the clauses and terms of an insurance policy. In the UK, there are four main underwriters for pet insurance:

● Allianz Insurance Plc
● Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Plc
● Ultimate Insurance Co Ltd
● Zenith Insurance Plc

Whilst there are other underwriters, these “big four” underwrite the majority of pet insurance plans from the likes of Petplan, Scottish Pet, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, PDSA and Esure to name but a few.

With the exception of a handful of insurers who do cover your pet immediately if you have already had pet insurance without a break in cover, for example,  Bought By Many, almost all other insurers have a 14-day “no claim” policy. If your pet is unwell or needs veterinary treatment during those first 14 days, they will not cover any of the costs. 

One of the reasons they claim that this has to be put in place is because customers have a 14-day cooling-off period, whereby they can cancel their policy. However, common sense dictates that should a customer need to claim on the insurance within the first 14-days, this cooling-off period would be waived and deemed null-and-void.

What Are We Trying To Achieve?

What we are aiming to achieve through the A Change for Danny website and lobbying of both the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (EST), John Glen MP and a wider conversation with UK underwriters providing pet insurance, is to remove the 14-day “no claim” clause from pet insurance. This clause penalises pet owners who, through no fault of their own, find their pets unwell in the first 14 days of cover, but are unable to claim back any of the costs of veterinary bills.

We are not trying to demonise, or point blame at any insurance company, or their underwriters. We are simply trying to get the 14-day clause removed, to give pet owners the peace-of-mind that their beloved pets are covered from the day their insurance policy starts. 

We fully support insurers and underwriters in taking legal action against policyholders who intentionally take out policies with the aim to defraud. Fraud is a criminal act, and we fully back the legal routes to prevent or enforce this. After all, insurance premiums will always be higher if people actively try to commit fraud.

We take out insurance for our pets because we want them to have the best possible care when illness or injury strikes. We do this out of love. And for the most part, many of us will have had pet insurance that has served us, and our pets, well in the times of need. 

However, sometimes your beloved pet can become unwell suddenly, just like Danny did, and if this falls within the 14-day period, the worry of trying to cover veterinary bills can be overwhelming – even more so if the final outcome is that your pet doesn’t survive.

A Change For Danny wants insurance companies and their underwriters to remove this unfair clause, and make pet insurance fairer. This clause causes undue stress and worry, and it’s not fair. It is also not in the best interest of the pet. We hope that A Change For Danny will be a catalyst for change, for the better, for all pet owners in the UK

How Can You Help?

We’re asking for your support of the A Change For Danny campaign in trying to change how pet insurance companies and their underwriters handle claims – we want them to remove the 14-day period.

You can do this by following us on social media, and by joining in with your stories of any circumstances when this 14-day “no-claim” clause has affected you. We don’t want accusations, we don’t want incriminations (even though you may be angered by the claims process). 

We want to know how it affected you so as we can lobby the insurers, underwriters and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to make pet insurance fair, and to help those who need it, when they need it, right from the moment the policy comes into force.

Tell Us Your Story

Have you also been unfortunate enough to have a pet become ill during the 14-day “no claim” period of your pet insurance?

If you have a story to tell, use the form below. We will then publish as many of the stories as we can on the website to share with our readers. We hope that the insurers and underwriters will read these, and make the right and ethical decision to remove the 14-day “no-claim” clause from all their insurance policies.

Please note: By sharing your story below, you are giving us permission to use your story on the website. Whilst we aim to use as many as possible, we won’t publish stories where you are inferring wrongdoing by any party (vet, insurer, underwriter etc). Also, if your story is in a legal dispute, please do not share it with us until such time as it has been fully resolved.

Recent Updates...

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Emails Received
Dave Parker

Update to Email to John Glen MP

I received a swift response from John Glen informing me that as this was a ministerial matter, I needed to contact him via the public enquiries route.

Read More »
21 April 2021 No Comments