Business Insurance FAQs
It is not a legal requirement to insure your personal belongings but if you do have some expensive equipment we would always advise you to insure this in case of things like Fire, Theft, Accidental damage etc.
Public liability is a type of business insurance. It covers the costs and legal fees you are required to pay if a member of the public or client is harmed, or their property is damaged, because of your business activities.
- Accidents or injuries which happen directly to you. You would need other covers for this.
- Your own property will not be covered.
- Accidents which may impact your employees and their private property, you will need Employers Liability for this.
Professional indemnity insurance is important if you offer advice or professional services to a client. That means if any of the following apply, you might need cover: – You give advice to clients regarding professional services or designs – You handle sensitive data or software on behalf of a client – Your industry or client requires you to have professional indemnity cover to operate
Employers’ liability insurance covers you in the event that one of your employees is injured or becomes ill due to the work they do for you and decides to make a claim against you. For example, if an employee receives insufficient training and injures themselves whilst using a piece of machinery, they could file a claim against you.
Most insurers within the UK have now applied exclusions within their insurance effectively ruling out cover for COVID 19. Pandemic cover can be sourced from specialist insurers.
Regardless of whether you work alone or manage a large team, if you use email or a smartphone, have a website, or hold customer data you could be exposed. If a hacker got hold of customer information stored on your network or gained access to your online bank account, the impact on your business could be devastating. In today’s digital world, activities that could put you at risk can be as simple as using a computer or making online payments. That’s why it’s important to consider cyber insurance.
Most insurers within the UK have now applied exclusions within their insurance effectively ruling out cover for COVID 19. Pandemic cover can be sourced from specialist insurers.
There are lots of different things that could halt your business’s work: your premises might be broken into and ransacked, an electrical fire could destroy your office building or a burst water pipe could damage all your furniture and office equipment. Fire, theft and flood are the more common issues covered by business interruption. But there are other potential issues too, such as the failure of public utilities, damage to neighbouring property that prevents access to your premises, and even bomb scares. All of these scenarios could result in you being unable to trade but they won’t necessarily result in damage to your property. Situations like this are usually covered as extensions to business interruption cover.
You do not need employers’ liability insurance if all your employees are related to you and the business is not a limited company. A relative is defined as any of the following: husband, wife, civil partner, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister.
We understand that who is and who isn’t an employee might not always be clear-cut in a small business. While you would typically define someone as an employee if you have a contract of employment – this isn’t necessarily how you would decide if you needed EL Insurance for them or not. It is important to make sure that anyone who is self-employed or a contractor that you take on for a project fulfils HMRC’s strict guidelines as to what self-employment actually means. If HMRC decides your contractor is actually your employee then you must have employers’ liability in place or you could face fines.
If you are the only director of your limited company, you own over 50% of the company’s share and you do not employ anyone else, then you do not need to take out a policy. However, you will need employers’ liability if you hire family members. Furthermore, you may find that some clients require you to have an employer’s liability policy in place before they’ll work with you. It’s up to you to judge the needs of your business.
A contractor cannot be your employee if they work for themselves. It is important to make sure that any contractor you take on for a project fulfils HMRC’s strict guidelines as to what self-employment actually means. If HMRC decides your contractor is actually your employee, then you must have employers’ liability in place or you could face fines.
If you don’t employ anyone but still have volunteer workers, then it is a good idea to take out employers’ liability. You still have a duty of care towards the people that work for you, even if their labour is unpaid. A volunteer can also still pursue legal action against you in the event of an accident and it’s best not to leave yourself open to risk.
Legal expenses cover to protect you and your business against the costs of receiving legal advice and cover any legal costs of a claim, regardless of whether the case is brought by or against the policyholder.
You may already have measures in place to maintain network security in the face of crime, but many small businesses do not have high enough levels of cybersecurity in place, or under-appreciate the risks of human error, which makes them easy targets for hackers. It just takes one click on a suspect email attachment for cybercriminals to gain access to your system.
We do If your business places professional drivers you may be held responsible for the actions of an agency driver. Drivers’ negligence provides cover for accidental damage to a client’s vehicle caused by your placed driver.
If you want to take out business interruption cover for a property that you own, you need to also insure the property.
Types of Business cover FAQs
Shop insurance is a tailored package providing the various components required to protect a retailer’s business. Cover extends from legal liability exposures such as public and employers liability to physical losses such as fire, theft or flood, to buildings, contents, stock, money and associated loss of profits. Other extensions to cover include goods-in-transit, damage to a shop front or glass and fidelity cover (theft by employees).
The only compulsory area of cover required when operating a fitness centre is liability cover in respect of injury to any employees. If you have any full or part-time staff you are legally required to purchase a minimum of £5m Employers Liability Insurance or you could face a fine of up to £2,500 per day. Whilst you are not obliged to purchase another cover, failure to protect against risks such as public liability and fire or flood damage to contents and equipment can leave you and your business severely exposed.
If you own the freehold you can cover buildings, or for tenanted establishments, you can protect your investment in terms of the improvements you have made, such as new kitchens, bathrooms and bar refits. Contents, fixtures and fittings and stock can be included against perils such as fire, flood and theft.
Dealing with contracts, placing full, part-time or agency staff, and dealing with reference and employment checks are just some of the unique risks, and it is important that your recruitment insurance policy protects all aspects of your business. Recruitment agency insurance consists of a single comprehensive policy which can cater for all the risks involved in running a recruitment firm or consultancy. The comparative policy can include Public/Product Liability, Employers Liability, Professional Indemnity, Directors & Officers, Office cover etc.
Office Insurance provides a suite of cover which can encompass all the requirements of an office-based business, from legal liabilities to computer, contents and property risks. If your business has any employees, you are required by law to purchase employers’ liability insurance. Whilst there is no legal requirement to purchase other covers to protect contents, IT equipment or other liabilities such as professional indemnity or public liability, failure to do so will leave your business highly exposed to significant potential claims or losses.
As with standard buy-to-let property cover, the core element of protection is for the building itself providing indemnity to reinstate the property to its current condition following an insured loss such as a fire claim. Depending on your specific circumstances insurers may look to restrict cover to fire, lightning, explosion, and aircraft (FLEA), however, this may be negotiable. As well as buildings, cover can be extended to include property owners’ liability and legal expenses cover.
Land insurance provides legal liability protection to meet a landowner’s duty of care owed to visitors or other members of the public as outlined in the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. Land Liability Insurance will indemnify the landowner up to the agreed sum insured in the event of negligence resulting in injury or damage to third-party property.
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Most retail businesses will need to employ either full or part-time staff and will be required by law to purchase employers’ liability insurance. Failure to arrange this cover, which provides indemnity for compensation claims received for injury to members of your workforce in the course of their employment, can result in fines of up to £2,500 per day.
Only two areas of cover are legally required when running a public house. Motor insurance should you own any motor vehicles and employers liability insurance. Employers’ liability provides legal liability for defence costs and compensation payments following injury or illness to any staff in the course of their employment for which you could be held liable.
Yes, we do – whilst a standard business insurance policy can normally cater for community interest companies, the added benefit of a specialist CIC Insurance policy is access to discounted premiums and enhanced levels of cover.
Only two areas of cover are legally required when running a public house. Motor insurance should you own any motor vehicles and employers liability insurance. Employers’ liability provides legal liability for defence costs and compensation payments following injury or illness to any staff in the course of their employment for which you could be held liable.
We do If your business places professional drivers you may be held responsible for the actions of an agency driver. Drivers’ negligence provides cover for accidental damage to a client’s vehicle caused by your placed driver.
If you want to take out business interruption cover for a property that you own, you need to also insure the property.