cover-audit

---
name: cover-audit
description: Turns the policies in your drawer into one page that names every risk which would stop you trading, the policy section that would actually pay for it, the limit, the excess, the condition you had to have met first, and the risks nothing covers at all, plus a numbered question list your broker has to answer in writing. Use when you hold two or three insurance documents, have never read them end to end, and do not know which of them would answer if the roof came in on a Friday night.
---

# Every risk that would close your doors, written next to the policy section that would actually pay, and the ones where nothing would

You give this your schedules, your policy wordings, your certificates and a plain description of how the business actually trades, including the things that are in no document, such as the outside tables, the van, the pop up you do in December and the chef who also drives. You get back a risk list built from the business rather than from the policy, a map from each risk to the section and the limit that would answer it, a gap list ordered by how close each gap comes to ending the business, and numbered questions for your broker. It will not tell you what limit to buy and it will not name an insurer or a product. It records what you hold, what you told the insurer, and where the two do not meet.

## What it does

1. **Build the risk list from the business, before opening a single policy document.** Walk the trading week and write what would stop it: the building, the kitchen, the cellar, the cold storage, the electrics, the gas, the water, the till system, the card terminal, the booking system, the chef, the licensee, the one supplier nobody has a second name for, the landlord, the road outside. Add the people risks separately: an employee injured, a customer injured, a customer made ill, a delivery driver on your forecourt. Write each as a sentence describing the event, not as an insurance term. A risk list written from a policy index only ever finds the risks the policy already names, which is the opposite of an audit.

2. **Inventory every document you actually hold, with its dates, and stop where the paper stops.** Schedule, policy wording, endorsements, certificates, the broker's demands and needs statement, the proposal or statement of fact. For each, record the insurer, the policy number, the period of insurance with both dates, and the version or edition of the wording. A schedule without its wording is not a policy: the schedule carries the numbers and the wording carries the conditions that decide whether those numbers are ever paid. Where the wording is missing, that is a gap row, not an assumption.

3. **Map each risk from step 1 onto a section, a limit, an excess and an exclusion, quoting the wording.** For every risk write four things read from the document: the section name as printed, the limit of indemnity or sum insured, the excess, and the nearest exclusion or condition that could take it away. Then mark the row covered, not covered, or not stated. Not stated is the honest answer where the wording is silent or ambiguous, and it must survive into the output as not stated. An audit that resolves every ambiguity in the owner's favour is worth less than no audit, because it produces confidence rather than questions.

4. **Check the compulsory cover first, because that is the one with a criminal penalty attached.** Employers' liability is required by section 1(1) of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969: "every employer carrying on any business in Great Britain shall insure, and maintain insurance, under one or more approved policies with an authorised insurer or insurers against liability for bodily injury or disease sustained by his employees". Regulation 3 of the 1998 Regulations sets the amount at "not less than £5 million in respect of (a) a claim relating to any one or more of those employees arising out of any one occurrence; and (b) any costs and expenses incurred in relation to any such claim". Motor cover for any vehicle used on a road is the other compulsory one. Record both before anything else, and hand the detail to the employers-liability skill rather than repeating it here.

5. **Read what you told the insurer, and test it against how you trade today.** Section 3(1) of the Insurance Act 2015 requires that "Before a contract of insurance is entered into, the insured must make to the insurer a fair presentation of the risk", and section 3(4) requires "disclosure of every material circumstance which the insured knows or ought to know". Put the proposal or statement of fact beside the risk list from step 1 and mark every line where the business has moved: new hours, a new kitchen, a deep fat fryer, accommodation upstairs, a function room, live music, a delivery service, work carried out at other people's premises. Each difference is a dated row for the broker, not a judgement about whether it matters.

6. **Separate the conditions you had to have met in advance from the ordinary small print.** Most wordings carry conditions about locks, alarms, keyholding, gas and electrical inspection intervals, fryer and duct cleaning, hot works, waste bins kept away from the building, and equipment shut down at close. Copy each one verbatim with the section it sits in, and record who in the business is responsible for it. Section 11(2) of the Insurance Act 2015 limits an insurer's ability to rely on breach of a term designed to reduce "loss of a particular kind", "loss at a particular location" or "loss at a particular time" where the insured shows under section 11(3) "that the non-compliance with the term could not have increased the risk of the loss which actually occurred". That is a real protection and it is not a reason to leave a duct uncleaned, because the argument happens after the fire.

7. **Hand the mechanical work to Codex and keep the judgement here.** Run, from the folder holding the documents and the risk list:

   ```
   codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
   ```

   Claude hands over the risk list with one row per risk, the document inventory with dates, the verbatim section names, limits, excesses, exclusions and conditions read from the wordings, and the owner's own marking of covered, not covered or not stated for every pairing. Codex returns the cover map, the conditions register, the compulsory cover check, the banded gap list and a gaps file naming every cell nobody has filled in. Codex decides nothing and estimates nothing.

8. **Rank the gaps by whether the business survives them, not by what they cost to fix.** Sort every not covered and not stated row into three bands and say why each sits where it does: would close the business, would hurt badly and be survivable, would be an irritation. A twelve month closure with no income belongs in the first band whatever the premium; a stolen bicycle does not. This ranking is the only part of the output an owner will actually act on, and it is the part a policy document can never produce, because a policy is organised by insurance section and a business is organised by what keeps the doors open.

9. **Turn the gaps into numbered questions for the broker and set a date for the answer.** Each question names the risk in the owner's words, quotes the policy wording it turns on, and asks a closed question the broker can answer in writing. Number them so the owner can reply with a number. Put the build date, the period of insurance end date and the renewal date in the footer of every page. An undated cover audit gets reread next year against a policy that has since been replaced, and the gap that was closed in March reappears as a live one in September.

## Then it checks

1. Every risk on the risk list has a row in the cover map, and every row carries a section name, a limit, an excess and a marking of covered, not covered or not stated, with no blank cell presented as covered.
2. Every limit, excess, exclusion and condition in the output is quoted from a named document with its period of insurance, and no figure appears that is not in a document the owner holds.
3. The employers' liability position is recorded with the figure read from the certificate and compared against the £5 million in regulation 3 of the 1998 Regulations, and the comparison is stated even where it passes.
4. Every difference between the proposal or statement of fact and the business as described today appears as a dated row addressed to the broker.
5. Every condition precedent and every risk improvement requirement found in any wording is copied verbatim with a named person responsible, and none is summarised.
6. Every gap is placed in one of the three survival bands with a stated reason, and no gap is left unbanded or banded by premium.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state a typical premium, a typical sum insured, a typical excess or a claim frequency for a single independent UK hospitality business. No such published figure exists, the numbers that circulate are published by people selling the next policy, and an owner who believes a borrowed figure will either reject a fair quotation as expensive or accept a thin one as normal, and will only find out which at the claim.
- Never recommend an insurer, a broker, a product or a policy wording, and never say one is better than another. The output records what is held and what is missing, and the choosing is done by the owner with an FCA authorised broker.
- Never tell the owner what limit of indemnity to buy. The skill states the limit currently held, states the compulsory minimum where the law sets one, and leaves the decision where it belongs.
- Never mark a risk covered from a section heading. Cover lives in the wording, the exclusions and the conditions, and a heading that says Business Interruption tells you nothing about whether a flood two streets away is included.
- Never resolve an ambiguity in the owner's favour. Not stated is a finding, and it is the finding most likely to be worth money.
- Never carry a limit, an excess or a condition forward from last year's audit. Wordings are reissued, endorsements are added at renewal, and the version read in September may not be the one on cover in October.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's own FCA authorised insurance broker to check, and for their solicitor where a liability or a contract term is in question. It applies published rules to documents the owner supplied. It is not advice on which policy to buy, it is not a statement that any risk is covered, and it is not a substitute for reading the policy with the broker who arranged it.

## Built from
- Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, section 1, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1969/57/section/1, latest available revised version as the page states, read 23 September 2026: the compulsory insurance duty quoted in step 4.
- The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998, SI 1998/2573, regulation 3, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2573/regulation/3/made, as made, read 23 September 2026: the £5 million minimum quoted in step 4 and tested in check 3.
- Insurance Act 2015, section 3, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/4/section/3, read 23 September 2026: the duty of fair presentation and the disclosure of every material circumstance, in step 5.
- Insurance Act 2015, section 11, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/4/section/11, read 23 September 2026: terms not relevant to the actual loss, in step 6.
- Insurance Act 2015, section 8, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/4/section/8, read 23 September 2026: the qualifying breach test that makes step 5 worth doing before a claim rather than after one.
- Insurance Act 2015, Schedule 1, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/4/schedule/1, read 23 September 2026: the proportionate remedies that follow a non deliberate breach, which is why step 5 records differences rather than explaining them away.
- Health and Safety Executive, "Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969: A brief guide for employers", HSE40(rev4), https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse40.pdf, first published 11/12, read 23 September 2026: the statement that public liability insurance is generally voluntary while employers' liability is compulsory, which sets the order of step 4.
- Financial Conduct Authority Handbook, ICOBS 5.2, https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/ICOBS/5/2.html, rule effective 1 October 2018, read 23 September 2026: the demands and needs duty that makes the broker the right destination for the question list in step 9.

# cover-audit

## You are given
The insurance documents held by one UK independent hospitality business and a risk list written by the owner. The risk list has one row per event that could stop the business trading, each written as a plain sentence, with the owner's own band of `would close the business`, `severe but survivable` or `irritation`. The document inventory names, for every document supplied, the insurer, the policy number, the document type, the period of insurance start and end dates, and the wording version or edition as printed. For every pairing of a risk and a policy section the owner has already read the wording and supplied: the section name exactly as printed, the limit of indemnity or sum insured, the excess, the nearest exclusion quoted verbatim, the nearest condition quoted verbatim, and a marking of `covered`, `not covered` or `not stated`. The employers' liability certificate figure and the certificate dates. The proposal form or statement of fact, and the owner's line by line marking of where the business today differs from what that document says. Every condition precedent and risk improvement requirement found in any wording, quoted verbatim, each with the name of the person in the business responsible for it. All judgement calls, including every covered or not covered marking, every survival band and every decision about whether a difference is material, have already been made by the owner and are supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./cover-audit-output/` folder:

1. `documents.csv` with these columns in this order: `document_ref`, `insurer`, `policy_number`, `document_type`, `period_start`, `period_end`, `wording_version`, `wording_supplied`, `notes`. `document_ref` is DOC001 upward. `document_type` is exactly one of `schedule`, `policy wording`, `endorsement`, `certificate`, `proposal or statement of fact`, `demands and needs statement`, `other`. `wording_supplied` is `yes` or `no`. Every schedule whose wording is `no` is listed in `gaps.md`.
2. `cover-map.csv` with columns: `risk_ref`, `risk_verbatim`, `survival_band`, `document_ref`, `section_name_verbatim`, `limit_gbp`, `limit_basis`, `excess_gbp`, `exclusion_verbatim`, `condition_verbatim`, `status`, `evidence_page_or_clause`. `risk_ref` is R001 upward. `survival_band` is exactly one of `would close the business`, `severe but survivable`, `irritation`. `limit_basis` is exactly one of `any one claim`, `any one occurrence`, `in the aggregate`, `not stated`. `status` is exactly one of `covered`, `not covered`, `not stated`. Every risk row in `risks.csv` must appear here at least once, including risks with no matching section, which are recorded with `document_ref` empty and `status` of `not covered`.
3. `risks.csv` with columns: `risk_ref`, `risk_verbatim`, `risk_category`, `survival_band`, `sections_matched_count`, `best_status`. `risk_category` is exactly one of `property`, `people`, `income`, `liability to others`, `legal and regulatory`, `supply and dependency`, `data and systems`, `vehicles`. `best_status` is the strongest status found for that risk in `cover-map.csv` in the order `covered`, then `not stated`, then `not covered`.
4. `compulsory-cover.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: the employers' liability limit read from the certificate and the certificate dates; whether that figure is at least £5 million, stated as `meets the regulation 3 minimum`, `below the regulation 3 minimum` or `not stated`; the certificate display position supplied by the owner; whether any vehicle is used on a road for the business and whether a motor certificate was supplied. Every line names the document reference the figure came from.
5. `presentation-differences.csv` with columns: `difference_ref`, `proposal_statement_verbatim`, `business_today_verbatim`, `date_change_took_effect`, `disclosed_to_insurer`, `date_disclosed`, `broker_question_ref`. `disclosed_to_insurer` is exactly one of `yes`, `no`, `not stated`. Every row with `no` or `not stated` is listed in `gaps.md`.
6. `conditions-register.csv` with columns: `condition_ref`, `document_ref`, `section_name_verbatim`, `condition_verbatim`, `condition_type`, `responsible_person`, `evidence_of_compliance_supplied`, `date_last_evidenced`. `condition_type` is exactly one of `condition precedent to liability`, `risk improvement requirement`, `general condition`, `not stated`. `evidence_of_compliance_supplied` is `yes` or `no`.
7. `gap-list.csv` with columns: `gap_ref`, `risk_ref`, `risk_verbatim`, `survival_band`, `status`, `why_it_matters_verbatim`, `broker_question_ref`. Sorted with every `would close the business` row first, then `severe but survivable`, then `irritation`, and within each band in `risk_ref` order.
8. `broker-questions.md` a numbered list, one entry per question supplied by the owner, each printing the risk reference, the policy wording quoted verbatim, the closed question as the owner wrote it, and a blank line headed `Broker answer` and a blank line headed `Date answered`.
9. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every schedule with no wording supplied; every `not stated` cell in `cover-map.csv`; every risk with no matching section; every difference not disclosed to the insurer; every condition with no evidence of compliance; every document with a missing period start or end date; and every figure supplied without a document reference.

## Rules
- Codex maps, counts, sorts and records. It never decides whether a risk is covered, never assigns a survival band, never judges whether a difference is material, and never writes a question to a broker. Those were supplied.
- Never estimate a limit, an excess or a sum insured. A missing figure is an empty cell and a line in `gaps.md`.
- Never infer cover from a section heading, a policy title or a product name. A pairing is `covered` only where the owner marked it `covered` against quoted wording.
- Never name an insurer, broker, product or policy as recommended, suitable, competitive or better, and never record an opinion about any of them.
- Never write a typical premium, a typical sum insured, a typical excess, a claim frequency or any other benchmark figure into any file. No such published figure exists for a single independent UK hospitality business and none is to be recorded.
- Never carry a limit, excess, exclusion or condition forward from a previous year's file. A prior year figure may be recorded in a clearly named comparison column and never used in a calculation or a status.
- Never summarise an exclusion or a condition. Copy it verbatim including its punctuation and capitalisation, and record the clause number or page it came from.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's own FCA authorised insurance broker to check, and for their solicitor where a liability or contract term is in question. It records supplied documents and supplied markings and is not advice on which policy to buy or a statement that any risk is covered.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the number of risks in each survival band, the count of risks whose `best_status` is `not covered` and the count whose `best_status` is `not stated`, the employers' liability conclusion from `compulsory-cover.md` stated in full with the figure and the document it came from, the count of presentation differences not disclosed to the insurer, the count of conditions precedent with no evidence of compliance, the number of schedules with no wording supplied, the number of broker questions written out, and the `gaps.md` item count.