This week marks an important procedural development in the High Court of Justice in London, representing a crucial moment for the NFU Mutual COVID-19 Business Interruption Group Actions.
These claims are of deep general interest to what we gather is a very large number of NFU Mutual policyholders inside the litigation and beyond.
The two primary actions:
- Innventure Limited v The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited, and
- South Farm Limited, and others v The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited
will be the focus of a Costs and Case Management Conference (CCMC) scheduled for 19 December 2025 before Mr Justice Jacobs.
A vast number of rural and hospitality businesses, who are policyholders in these actions or watching the litigation with interest, will be keenly noting the outcome of this hearing. The CCMC, governed by a Consent Order issued on 21 November 2025, is not the final trial. Rather, it is an important administrative step designed to bring necessary structure and momentum to this complex, protracted litigation.
The Court is expected to set the framework for a highly focused, three-day Trial of Preliminary Issues, intended to resolve a critical, overarching legal point of contractual interpretation efficiently.
Since the Supreme Court provided landmark clarity on Business Interruption claims in January 2021, both the legal community and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have consistently urged insurers to settle valid claims promptly. The FCA’s clear expectation was that policyholders—many of whom are long-standing members of their mutual insurer—would be treated fairly and without undue impediment, with no grounds for further delay.
The current group action became necessary due to the insurer’s ongoing denial of liability under policies that were purchased in good faith to cover the precise risk of government-enforced business closure.
We are acutely aware of the extensive time taken to reach this stage, a delay that has been subject to critical commentary from legal professionals and also raised as a point of concern in Parliament. It is our expectation and hope that this new, focused approach, now formally directed by the High Court, signals a definitive commitment to a swifter resolution. For every business involved, this legal pursuit is fundamentally about upholding the principle of insurance: that the promise of protection, for which premiums were faithfully paid, is honoured when it is most critically needed.
We continue to proceed in a measured, constructive, and resolute manner, confident in the legal clarity established across similar cases.
We remain fully committed to attending to this process for the sake of all businesses who have suffered enormous financial and emotional hardship.
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Subsequent to the initial publication of this analysis, the scale and significance of the NFU Mutual Business Interruption group action have undergone remarkable growth. The rapid increase in policyholder participation warrants a reserved, professional acknowledgement of the expanded scope of the litigation.
The claimant group’s solicitors have confirmed that the action has not only expanded to involve thousands of policies but has also established a new benchmark for size in the UK insurance sector’s COVID-19 related litigation.
Specifically, the lead solicitors have stated:
This has the potential to be an extremely important case for a number of reasons. Once additional claimants in the approximately 90-strong group are formally added, this will be one of, if not the, largest Covid-19 group action claim against a single insurer in terms of claimant numbers.
NFUM has contended that it is entitled to rely upon unappealed first instance findings by the divisional court in the FCA Covid-19 business interruption insurance test case proceedings, in regard to the meaning of the term ‘incident’ in a similarly worded Hiscox clause, so the claims made by those insured would not be valid.
The claimants, however, allege that the NFUM clause is distinct and, in any event, if applying the approach of the Supreme Court in the same test case proceedings, then the insurance policy would be relevant to the claims made.
There has also been a recent Court of Appeal decision, IEH v Allianz, where the Court of Appeal suggested that the relevant part of the divisional court judgment in the test case may have been wrongly decided, although it declined to overturn it at the time, as it was not strictly relevant or necessary to determine for the matter currently before it.
This case therefore has the potential to undermine the unappealed parts of the divisional court’s judgment in the FCA test case, which in turn could mean the reopening of hundreds of (potentially wrongly) declined Covid-19 business interruption claims across the wider market.
This exponential growth underscores the widespread nature of the unresolved claims and significantly elevates the potential financial exposure and legal complexity for the insurer.
The collective action, now representing thousands of policyholders seeking a large quantum of damages, confirms its standing as a major legal development in the UK insurance market.
UPDATE: 19 December 2025
A public online hearing was held today before Mr Justice Bryan regarding the NFU Mutual Business Interruption group actions.
The court has indicated that it will make an order for the litigation to move to a preliminary trial. The majority of matters at the hearing proceeded by consent and were agreed upon by the parties.
The anticipated directions in the order discussed include:
Preliminary Issues Trial: The litigation will focus on the interpretation of “incident” and “hospitality” wordings in non-damage denial of access policies. The claimants contend these policies should have responded to losses years ago.
Trial Date: The trial is not to happen before early June 2026.
Time Allocation: The agreed estimate for the trial is 4.5 days total, comprising 1.5 days for judicial reading and 3 days for the hearing.
Case Coordination: It is formal that the Innventure and South Farm groups will be heard together.
Representation:
- Helen Morton (Essex Court Chambers) appeared for the Innventure claimants.
- Celso De Azevedo (Enterprise Chambers) appeared for the South Farm claimants.
- Gavin Kealey KC (7KBW) appeared for the defendant, NFU Mutual.
