Is my Debenhams Wedding Insurance Policy Still Valid Following the Company Going into Administation?

Update: 2nd December 2020

Debenhams is to be wound down following the chain going into administration for a second time in April of this year. With the last remaining interested firm now having pulled out of talks, it's looking likely that the 240 year old company will be liquidated with stores closed from the New Year.

Existing Debenhams wedding insurance policyholders will, of course, be concerned about the validity of their policies. We can reassure them that, according to a notice on their website, policies remain valid and are unaffected by the financial position of Debenhams.

Update: 9th April 2019, 19:30pm

We understand all policyholders have been emailed today.

Further to today's announcement, we would like to assure you that your Debenhams Wedding Insurance will be protected and valid under the terms and conditions of the policy and it will not be impacted by the financial position of Debenhams Group.

Debenhams Financial Services products, including insurance policies are independent contracts held directly between policy holders and the specialist provider, in this case UK General Insurance Ltd on behalf of Great Lakes Insurance SE.

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April 2019

Following this morning's news regarding Debenhams Retail going into administration, we've had a number of people asking us about their Debenhams Wedding Insurance polices and whether they're still covered or not.

We spoke to them earlier today and were reassured that both existing and any new policies taken out from today are still valid and that they are "not impacted by the financial position of the Debenhams Group"

This is because Debenhams Retail PLC is simply an Introducer Appointed Representative' of UK General Insurance Limited. The policy itself is underwritten by UK General Insurance Limited on behalf of Great Lakes Insurance SE.

Although the policies are Debenhams branded, Debenhams are in effect just referring the customer to UK General who take payment and provide the policy. We were advised it's an "independent contract" between the customer and UK General.

Obviously customers will be worried but following the discussion we had with the Debenhams Personal Finance customer services team today, it would seem that Debenhams Wedding Insurance polices do still seem to be valid.

I have a free gift card? Is that still redeemable?

Our only concern for customers would be with regard to the 'free gift card' offer that Debenhams have been running for some time.

If customers of Debenhams Wedding Insurance have already received the free gift card, it would seem that at the time of writing they should still be able to redeem it. However, when a retail company goes into administration there is always some uncertainly around gift cards and so it would be advisable to redeem it as soon as possible.

If the free gift card hasn't been received yet, there is a chance that following the company going into administration, it may never turn up.

We'll update this blog post if any further information becomes available.