Travel Claims

UMAL is a specialist.

We only provide cover for Universities and Higher and Further Education Colleges and Institutions. Our service is tailored and focused on the specific requirements and needs of our Members. This includes providing crucial travel cover to many hundreds of thousands of students and staff in over 125 countries, while they are conducting research projects or on work placements, conferences, field trips and expeditions.

Find out more about the key features and benefits of UMAL’s travel cover

Keeping our Members staff and students safe 24/7

We offer access to 24/7 medical expertise from the International Medical Group and security advice from Crisis 24 who also provide pre-travel advice and in-travel security alerts.

There are no exclusions for specific countries or prior medical conditions, as long as travellers are not travelling against medical advice. We even provide cover for travel against Foreign Commonwealth Development Office advice, offering students and staff the opportunity to travel to virtually anywhere in the world.

18,000+ travel claims since 2000

Since 2000, we’ve covered around 320,000 international travellers, and have dealt with an incredible variety of claims. From lost luggage claims to airlifting injured hikers from the slopes of Machu Picchu, to repatriating travellers when Covid-19 first emerged, UMAL’s expertise has offered security and peace of mind to our students and staff as they travelled the world.
In addition to our experience, we also provide access to 24-hour emergency assistance, travel advice, risk alerts and quick response to global emergencies.

With all these tools at our fingertips, we’re always ready to provide a trusted service to our Members.

£12m paid

At UMAL, our dedicated service has enabled thousands of students and staff to return home safely with limited stress and minimum fuss. Since 2000 we’ve paid out over £12m in travel claims, with the largest payment of around £390,000.

The other benefits we offer include legal expenses, discretion to pay when not strictly covered, and deductible free cancellation and curtailment.

1 Working day

Typically, we respond to claims within one working day. We provide early determination, early settlement, and aim to deal with your claims as quickly as possible. We don’t use small print to delay and avoid paying and dealing with claims

In partnership with our Members

Our relationship with Members is not driven by commercial imperative, shareholders, or profit. Instead, we focus on building close partnerships based on providing knowledge of the sector, value for money and first-class service.

Click here to learn more about our Travel cover or contact one of our team below: