On 17 March 2020, in announcing an “unprecedented” range of measures designed to support businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said that “for those businesses which do have [an insurance] policy that covers pandemics, the government’s action is sufficient and will allow businesses to make an insurance claim against their policy”. In practice, however, many policyholders have experienced difficulties in successfully asserting claims against insurers for business interruption losses. A number of major insurers and their representative bodies have stated their belief that, in most cases, business interruption policies will not respond to losses caused by (i) COVID-19; or (ii) the UK Government’s response to COVID-19. In turn, a number of policyholder action groups have stated their intention to pursue litigation against insurers for business interruption losses arising from COVID-19, and the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has taken steps to seek clarification from the English courts on the interpretation of certain common policy provisions.