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Employment agency insurance

Join over 900,000 customers who’ve chosen to insure with us. Compare employment agency insurance from trusted brands.

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Rated 4.7/5

Based on 39,755 reviews

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Claims paid in 24 hours

For 80% of settled claims

What's on this page

  • Why is insurance important?
  • What does it cover?
  • How much does it cost?
  • How do I choose insurance?
  • How do claims work?
  • FAQs
  • Helpful articles

Why is staffing agency insurance important?

Large-scale staffing or niche employment solutions, whatever your area of expertise, an employment agency faces specific risks. From liability insurance for accidents and injuries to professional indemnity cover third party losses caused by an error you’ve made, our tailored protection works to protect the agency, your employees, and the kit you rely on, at home or in the office.

  • industry-specific, permanent, or temporary staffing agency insurance
  • public liability insurance – employment agency liabilities covered from £1 million
  • 24/7 claims helpline and UK-based contact centre

Start your quote

Insurance for staffing agency risks – what’s covered?

We’ll start with public liability insurance, top of the list for thousands of UK businesses. This cover can protect you against claims for property damage and injuries, if someone thinks your agency is responsible. You can add other popular covers too, like professional indemnity insurance (often known as PI), and employers’ liability cover, plus protection for your equipment and office kit.

Public liability insurance for staffing agency

In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • damage to someone’s property, caused by your staffing agency
  • an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
  • accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

For example:

  • a client trips over a loose carpet tile while visiting your office, breaking her ankle
  • you spill hot coffee on a job applicant’s arm during a screening interview, causing a bad burn which requires hospital treatment

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your employment agency.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

  • a junior recruiter you’ve taken on slips and falls on your wet office stairs, injuring their back
  • one of your employees suffers a head injury while reaching for a file on a shelf

Professional indemnity insurance for emplpoyment agencies

In case there’s a claim for negligence, or breaches in your duty of care.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your agency for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

  • advice which turns out to be incorrect
  • mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

For example:

  • a previous client sues you for delays in your contracted services, which prevent them from taking on a new brief
  • your agency is held responsible for a loss-causing data breach

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

  • theft, flood, fire, or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your business
  • operational equipment like your laptop, office printer, and phone

For example:

  • twelve employee laptops are stolen during an overnight break-in
  • your new scanner is damaged during an office move, and you need to replace it

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you and your agency face legal costs.

  • legal costs attributed to your agency
  • property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
  • tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
  • access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis PR support to help you protect your agency’s reputation

For example:

  • you incur legal costs following a notification from HMRC that your agency isn’t correctly registered
  • two of your part-time employees have been classified incorrectly and you need to hire legal support

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

  • accidental injury or death at or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
  • lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

  • you break your arm while playing tennis, and need time away from work for hospital visits
  • your business partner slips on some ice in your office car park, injuring her lower back

Read more about personal accident insurance

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

How much does employment agency insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £3.19 per month

Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.

Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes

Start your quote

10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.

Example employment agency insurance quotes, real prices

chiswell insurance

£8.86 /month

£68.64 /month

A self-employed recruiter helping find applicant for local businesses

  • 1-2 years' experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Sheffield
  • Public liability

    Not included

  • Employers’ liability

    Not included

  • Professional indemnity

    £50,000

chiswell insurance

£13.10 /month

£111 /month

A small employment agency that specialises in tech recruitment

  • 5+ years' experience
  • Limited company
  • 2 employees
  • Based in CF10 1FJ
  • Public liability

    £2,000,000

  • Employers’ liability

    £10,000,000

  • Professional indemnity

    £250,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 16/08/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Professional indemnity

No excess

£2500

Public liability

£200

£750

Contents

£100

£750

Portable equipment

£100

£500

Employers liability

No excess

No excess

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

  • Pick what goes into your policy

    Only pay for what you need

  • Get prices from a range of insurers

    Choose the best fit for you

  • Buy online in minutes

    Get your documents the same day

Start your quote

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How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Does employment ageency insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It's important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider hr consultant insurance or recruitment consultant insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

Other types of insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm

Call our team

0333 043 8527

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Contact us on our website whenever suits you

Phone

Call our insurance experts during office hours (calls are charged at a local rate)

FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.

£39 million in claims paid out in 2022

Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022

Example claim

Having employment agency insurance through Simply Business has saved companies thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Emily saved more than £1,000

Emily (not her real name) dropped her work tablet onto a client’s concrete reception area floor, cracking the screen and causing damage to a few basic functions. The optional business and office equipment cover in her staffing agency insurance policy helped cover Emily’s replacement costs.

  • Insurance payout

    £1,087.50

    Covering the cost of accidental damage

  • Emily’s costs

    £100

    The excess amount stated in Emily’s policy terms

Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

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  • Rated 4.7/5

    Based on 39,755 reviews

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    Make a claim any time

Staffing agency insurance FAQ

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about permanent or temporary staffing agency insurance, and other types of cover. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

  • Professional indemnity insurance will be a key cover for most employment or staffing agencies – it’s built to cover you for errors or breaches in your duty of care, which could end up causing a financial loss to a third party. Is there a risk that your client could lose money due to a delay in your services, for example, and sue for compensation?

    Alongside professional liability insurance, most businesses choose to include public liability insurance in their policy, to provide protection against a third party’s trip and fall, for example, or damage to their property. And if you employ anyone (including contractors or temps), employers’ liability cover is usually a legal requirement.

  • Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

  • You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

    • one-off credit or debit card payment
    • BACS payment
    • Direct Debit

    If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.

  • If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 043 8527. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.

  • This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

    If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

    There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

Helpful articles for employment agencies

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17 Jun 2021 • 3-minute read

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