Travel insurance firms are first to offer cover for red, amber and green list countries

Policies cover travel against Foreign Office advice

Travellers to amber-list Valencia would be insured (Getty Images)

Three travel insurers have become the first in the UK to offer policies covering red, amber and green list countries.

CoverForYou, Cedar Tree and Outbacker have all launched policies that aren’t impacted by the current ambiguity of the government’s traffic light system for international travel.

The policies even cover travel against Foreign Office (FCDO) advice; the FCDO has a blanket advisory against non-essential international travel, with only a slim number of countries and islands exempt from this at present.

The expansion of cover has been added automatically to all policies, both new and existing, at no additional cost to customers.

Policy prices start from £8 for single-trip cover for a long weekend.

The extent to which travellers are covered depends on the specific FCDO advice for their destination and their reason for travel.

The only instance in which policy holders aren’t covered at all is if the FCDO advises against all travel to their destination.

If the FCDO advises against all but essential travel, and the customer’s travel is deemed essential – for example, for work or education – they are fully covered.

Whereas if their travel is non-essential, such as a holiday, cover is provided, but excludes any claim arising, either directly or indirectly, from the reason the FCDO advises against travelling there. In most cases, this means coronavirus-related claims would be excluded.

It follows a week in which government ministers advised Brits not to go to amber countries on holiday, despite the international leisure travel ban being lifted in England on 17 May.