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Engineering insurance

Join over 5,587 engineers like you with cover from £3.19 per month*. Compare tailored 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 do you need business engineering insurance?

A big part of your job is reassuring the client, applying expertise to solve problems. If an expensive insurance claim arrived, would you have the funds ready to manage it? We provide engineering business insurance for contractors, for both small and large engineering companies right across the UK.

  • £50,000 to £5 million engineer PI insurance
  • peace of mind, letting you focus on the work, not the what-ifs
  • tools, accident and employee cover – you choose what you need

Start your quote

What does engineering business insurance cover?

From the clients you work with to the tools you rely on, all of these details are important when deciding what goes into your policy. We give you control over your cover, starting with public liability insurance – you can have it as a standalone policy or add other popular covers like professional indemnity insurance and tools protection.

Public liability insurance for engineering businesses

In case someone is injured or their property gets damaged, because of your engineering business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • damage to someone’s property, because of your work
  • an injury caused by your business activities
  • accidental damage or injury caused by your employees

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

For example:

  • while working on a client’s heating system you fall off your stepladder, damaging some of the pipework
  • you leave your toolbox on the pavement while speaking to the client and a jogger trips over it, breaking their ankle

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your engineering business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • an employee, including a temp or casual worker, suing you after getting injured because of working for you, or
  • making a claim for an injury they’ve suffered through working for you

**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:

  • your employee suffers a head injury while on site with a client, and claims you haven’t provided the appropriate safety equipment
  • a temp you’ve hired trips over your tool box, breaking an arm

Professional indemnity insurance for engineering businesses

In case you make an error, or your services don’t meet the expected standards.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • professional negligence or breach of contract, causing your client to suffer a financial loss, such as:
  • advice you’ve given which turns out to be incorrect
  • other errors in your engineering which end up costing your client money

For example:

  • you give advice which turns out to be incorrect, causing your client to buy several materials which will need to be sent back
  • an engineer on your team fails to plan a heating system installation properly, leading to increased costs for your client

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for engineering businesses?

  • loss, damage or theft of your engineering tools and equipment

For example:

  • your tool kit is stolen from your van while you’re parked on site
  • a fire in your garage damages your team’s supply of calipers

Read more about tools insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to your operational equipment, like your laptop.

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

  • theft of the equipment you use to run your business, while at work or out and about
  • accidental loss, flood, fire or damage to your equipment

For example:

  • your tablet is stolen during an office break-in, along with your new printer and cartridge shipment
  • while meeting with a client you drop your phone from a height, damaging it beyond repair

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

  • legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day consultancy activities, like an employee dispute
  • the cost of making or receiving legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
  • HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance disputes
  • includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation as a trusted engineer

For example:

  • one of your employees brings a claim against you, disputing their working hours
  • a group of trespassers are routinely meeting on your premises at night, and you take legal action

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or off-duty.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

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

For example:

  • you damage your eye while working on site
  • one of your employees breaks an arm while running a half marathon, and needs two weeks off active work

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 engineers 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 business engineer insurance quotes, real prices

elements insurance

£88.93 /month

£790.45 /year

A self employed electrical engineer who works on projects across the power sector

  • 2-3 years' experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Stoke-on-Trent
  • Public liability

    £1,000,000

  • Employers liability

    Not included

  • Professional indemnity

    £100,000

maltings insurance

£128.50 /month

£1142.18 /year

A small mechanical engineering firm who work across the UK on projects for residential and commercial properties, with one person office based

  • 5+ years' experience
  • Limited company
  • 3 employees
  • Based in Cardiff
  • Public liability

    £5,000,000

  • Employers liability

    £10,000,000

  • Professional indemnity

    £1,000,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 19/04/2021). 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.

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

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.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does engineering business 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 electrical engineer insurance or engineering 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

Online

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 above 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 engineer insurance claim

Having engineering business insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Andy saved more than £10,000

Andy (not his real name) was working on site when some plasterboard fell onto his leg, fracturing his femur. The personal accident cover in his engineering insurance policy helped cover Andy’s ongoing medical costs and lost income.

  • Insurance payout

    £10,036.06

    Covering the cost of personal accident

  • Andy’s costs

    £100

    The excess amount stated in Andy’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.

  • Compare and buy in minutes

    Documents arrive today

  • Rated 4.7/5

    Based on 39,755 reviews

  • Here to help

    Help from UK-based experts

  • 24/7 claims

    Make a claim any time

Insurance for engineers 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 engineering insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

  • Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.

  • 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 engineering businesses

Engineers discussing a project in a warehouse wearing protective clothing

4 Jun 2019 • 3-minute read

How to become an engineer in the UK

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