Insurance and liability

First published

13 Oct 2022

Last updated

13 Oct 2022

Insurance and liability

Community Councils are unincorporated associations. Under the current law in Scotland, an unincorporated association does not have separate legal personality. This means the individual community councillors are personally and severally liable.

Stirling Council arranges public, employer and trustees liability insurance for all Community Councils to minimise the risk to individual community councillors.

Stirling Council can also arrange group Assets Insurance based on the assets, if any, owned by individual Community Councils. The asset insurance is based on the Community Council providing an
accurate and up to date list of assets held. Early in the calendar year we will gather information from each Community Council regarding what assets they own and would like insured. For any Community Council not supplying this information, their assets will not be insured.
The insurance premium/s are deducted from the admin grant before the award is made to the Community Council. The above insurance cover runs from 1 May – 30 April each year.

If a Community Council is organising any kind of event throughout the year it is responsible for insurance, either organising additional insurance cover or checking if the particular type of event is
already covered. Stirling Council does not arrange Events Insurance as each event is very different, e.g. some may have bouncy castles, fireworks, road closures and so on. Most events are likely to
require additional cover.


There are two key points to remember:

  • Community Councils and Community Councillors should operate within the Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils to minimise personal risk
  • where a problem arises, early communication with Stirling Council and/or the Insurer is advised
Contents