Reference · 12

Glossary and frequently asked questions

Terms used in the panel and answers to common questions.

Frequently asked questions

The journey step will not turn green. What is wrong?

Steps are computed from data, never ticked. Open the step: the panel lists exactly what is still missing (for example "Make first contact with the policyholder" or "Record the property layout"). Do each item and the step turns green on its own.

I can't see Finance, Reports or Administration in my menu.

Your role does not include them. Staff see operations but not finance; Read Only sees neither finance nor administration. Ask the CEO if you need access. See Roles and access.

I can't see contractor prices.

Contractor prices are commercially sensitive and need the contractor-pricing permission. Read Only never has it. The insurer never sees them either.

The panel says the insurer has not approved the repair, but they did by email.

The email is not enough: record the decision on step 9 and attach the email (use Upload beside the document picker). The latest recorded decision, with its supporting file still active, is the authority.

Can I change a schedule after I sent it to the insurer?

Not the issued copy. Record the insurer's decision, then start a supplement for amended or extra work and issue that. The history shows every issue.

A contractor invoice is bigger than the purchase order.

The panel refuses an invoice above what is left on the order. Either the order must be revised upward (a new revision, within what the approval and schedule allow) or the invoice is wrong. Do not pay more than has been ordered and approved.

Payment is refused because the contractor has no verified bank details.

On the contractor's profile, record the bank details with a reason; then a different authorised person verifies them by phoning a number you already hold (not one from an email). If it is truly urgent, you can pay with a payment reference and a written override reason, which stays on the record.

We need to refund an insurer after they paid.

A credit note cannot exceed the unpaid balance, and refunds are not recorded in the panel. Handle the refund through your bank and accounts, and add a note to the claim explaining it.

I entered something wrong on a claim. How do I fix it?

Use Amend on the claim details, give a reason, and the change is logged. For a wrong note, add a Correction note. For a wrong decision, record the corrected decision: decisions are append-only, so the latest one counts.

Can a contractor or the insurer log in to see their jobs?

No. By design only our staff sign in. Contractors and insurers receive PDFs and emails; staff key their replies in.

An email did not send. What now?

The item is kept as failed with a Send again button. If every email fails, the CTO checks Settings → Email delivery and the queue worker. A schedule is not marked issued until its email has gone.

A document link stopped working.

Links last 60 seconds. Click the document again to get a fresh one.

The claim is read-only.

Either it is closed (only the CEO can reopen it, with a reason) or it carries the Cancelled flag (clear the flag if it was set in error).

The dashboard says a deadline is late, but the weekend or a bank holiday was in between.

Working-day deadlines skip weekends and England and Wales bank holidays. Hour-based deadlines (first contact) and the 30-day contractor payment term run on the clock. If a recent bank holiday is missing, ask the CTO to press Check GOV.UK now on the Service levels page.

Is it safe to put real claims into the rehearsal server?

No. Rehearsal is for sample data only. Real claims belong on the production install.

How do I record a cash settlement payment?

On step 8, in Cash payments to the policyholder or a third party. You need an insurer decision on step 9 that allows payment (approved, cash settlement or partial repudiation) and the CEO or CTO role. Choose the category, who was paid, the amount, date and reference. The panel only records what the insurer paid.

The insurer withdrew the claim after the survey. Can I invoice the survey?

Yes. Record Withdrawn after site survey on step 9, record the agreed fee (with the letter) on step 13, make sure the survey is recorded as completed, then issue an Assessment fee invoice. Before the survey, no fee can be invoiced.

I recorded a cash payment by mistake.

Void it on step 8 with a reason. It stays in the list, struck through, and no longer counts in spend. Then record the correct one. If the financial ledger has been closed, the CEO must reopen it first.

Glossary

Amend: Change a saved claim field with a recorded reason.
Assessment (Survey & assessment): An instruction that ends with a reviewed report to the insurer, not repairs.
Audit log / Activity: The record of who did what and when. Not editable.
Authorised value: The amount the insurer has approved us to charge on the claim.
Award: Choosing one contractor's returned price for a scope. A non-lowest award needs a reason.
Block policy: A policy covering a block of properties (freeholder or managing agent). A claim flag.
CIS: Construction Industry Scheme: HMRC's tax deduction scheme for subcontractors (0%, 20% or 30%).
Claim handler: The staff member responsible for a claim.
Client rate: The price per unit the insurer pays for a schedule item.
Contractor rate: The price per unit we pay the contractor. Never shown to the insurer.
Cash payment: Money the insurer paid to the policyholder or a third party, recorded in the panel. Nothing is paid from the panel. Voided, never edited.
Credit note: A document reducing an invoice (sales credit note to the insurer, or a contractor's credit to us).
CSQ: Customer satisfaction questionnaire: the follow-up call on step 14.
Customer contribution: A payment the policyholder makes towards the works, when the approved schedule carries one.
Desktop review: An assessment from supplied evidence, without a site visit.
Discovery call / FNOL: The first contact with the policyholder (first notice of loss), with triage.
EFD: Estimated finish date of a work phase.
Excess: The amount the policyholder bears under the policy; collected before work starts and deducted on invoicing.
Gross margin: Revenue (net of credits) minus contractor cost and other costs.
Head of claim: An older name for an indemnity category.
Indemnity category: The head under which money is reserved, recovered or paid: Buildings, Contents, Alternative accommodation, Loss of rent, Business interruption, Inconvenience allowance, Daily meal allowance, Electricity usage, Other and Professional fees (reserve only).
Instruction type: Survey & assessment, or Managed repairs.
Journey: The 15-step rail on every claim.
Ledger (financial): The claim's money record. Closing it fixes the figures; only the CEO reopens it.
Make-safe: Urgent protection to stop damage worsening, recorded separately from the repair scope.
Markup: The percentage added to a contractor's off-schedule price to give the insurer rate.
Network: Our approved contractors and surveyors.
Organisation: The business whose data the panel holds (the multi-tenant boundary).
Peril: The cause of the damage (escape of water, storm, fire…).
Phase (work phase): A trade package of the repair, with its own contractor, dates, order and validation.
PO: Purchase order to a contractor or supplier.
Policyholder: The insured person or company.
Pre-commencement: The checks (excess, contribution) before work may start.
Provisional sum: A client-only allowance held with the insurer, not given to a contractor.
PSM: Pre-start meeting with the contractor.
Repudiation / partial repudiation: The insurer refuses the claim, or part of it. A repudiated claim becomes Rejected; a partial repudiation keeps the claim open and the approved part is recorded on the schedule decision.
Reserve balance: The reserve's grand total minus claim spend. Red when spend has passed the reserve.
Claim spend: Sales invoiced (less credit notes) plus cash payments that are not voided.
Quick scope: An early cost estimate by trade to support the reserve.
RAMS: Risk assessment and method statement.
Recovery: Money recoverable from a third party.
Reserve: The amount set aside against a claim, by head.
RFQ: Request for quotation: an unpriced scope sent to contractors.
Schedule of rates (SOR): The price library of coded items with client and contractor rates.
Schedule of works: The priced list of repair lines for a claim: original, then supplements.
Service level: A target time for a stage, set in Settings.
Supplement: A further section of the schedule for added or amended work.
Validation: Our sign-off that a contractor's finished phase is complete, with evidence.
Withdrawn (four stages): The insurer ended the instruction: before the site survey (no fee), after the site survey (survey fee), with only the survey report submitted, or with the full client report submitted.
Working day: A weekday that is not an England and Wales bank holiday.

Keyboard and accessibility

Tab once on any page shows Skip to main content.
Esc closes the account menu, the mobile menu and the Tasks and Notes drawers.
On a claim, the Go to step picker: arrow keys choose, Enter or the Go button opens; with a mouse or finger it opens at once.
Step states always show a word and a symbol as well as a colour. Motion is reduced if your system asks for it.

Getting help

Check Gates and what blocks you for the message you were given.
Ask a colleague with the right role (CEO for permissions and reopening; CTO for email, storage or errors).
When reporting a fault, give the claim number, what you pressed, the exact message and the time. The audit log will show what was recorded.