Levy & McRae solicitors believe there are hundreds of businesses – especially small and medium enterprises – who need to seek expert advice now on whether they should pursue claims to cover the financial hit they’ve incurred during the COVID-19 lockdown.

It comes as financial services regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prepares to bring a High Court action as a test case on whether the policies of eight insurers should pay out to firms affected by COVID-19.

Callum Anderson, partner, Levy & McRae, said: “The FCA test case will be coming to court in July, but any judgement is unlikely to be delivered for several weeks after and it is possible that it will be appealed including to the Supreme Court. The proceedings are only dealing with the policies of eight insurers and there are many more insurers in the market.”

Over the past weeks, Levy & McRae have identified a number of clients who have an extension to their business interruption cover for infectious diseases that provides the possibility of cover.

One fear for many firms, if a payout is initially denied, could be the threat of a potentially costly court battle. In light of this, the firm has set up an action group including Callum Anderson, Peter Anderson and Professor Leo Martin which, through collective legal action, could bring costs down to a much more manageable level.

• Read all of our articles relating to COVID-19 here.