Off licence insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,768 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Off licence shop insurance – why is it important?
From stock deliveries to shutting up shop, off licences face a unique set of risks. The average UK public liability claim costs thousands, and alcohol retailers have a lot to factor in. Our cover steps up to protect the business you’ve built, letting you focus on the till, not the what-ifs. There’s cover for public and product liability, plus employee claims, stock, legal expenses, and more.
- rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ customer reviews
- stock, accident, and employee cover – you choose what you need
- 24/7 UK-based claims support from an expert team
Insurance for off licences – what’s covered?
Your shop insurance quote usually builds around public and product liability insurance, built to protect against damage or injury claims, plus employers’ liability for your staff. For most UK employers, it’s a legal requirement. From there, stock, contents, and buildings cover are popular options, along with legal expenses insurance and personal accident protection for your own injuries, or anyone you choose to cover.
Public and product liability insurance
In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your off licence.
Building insurance
In case something happens to your off licence premises.
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your products and consumables.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your off licence.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
Public and product liability insurance
In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public and product liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, because of your off licence
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- while leaving your premises, a customer injures their hand on some broken glass in your doorway
- a customer has an allergic reaction to an ingredient in one of your products, and sues for compensation
What you’ll need additional cover for:
- road accidents – we can cover certain incidents related to delivery, like slips and trips caused by your business, but you’d need specific insurance for injuries involving a vehicle
**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 off licence.
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:
- while doing a stock take, your employee knocks a glass bottle onto the floor which smashes and cuts their hand during clean-up – they need emergency hospital treatment
- your employee trips on a loose floor tile and falls, fracturing his knee
Building insurance
In case something happens to your off licence premises.
What’s typically covered by building insurance?
- the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
- damage to fixtures and fittings
- damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for
For example:
- your shop window is smashed during a break-in, and needs to be repaired
- a fire in the adjoining building causes damage to your premises, and you need to partially close for repair work
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tenants’ improvements – changes to the property’s structure which you’ve organised and paid for yourself, like partition walls or wooden flooring
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.
What’s typically covered by contents insurance?
- accidental damage to your shop’s fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run the off licence
- theft, flood, and fire damage
For example:
- your work laptop is stolen during a break-in
- an employee is moving a display cabinet across the shop and it collapses, causing significant damage
Read more about tools insurance
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your products and consumables.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of things like food and drink products, sellable items, and other materials you use to stock your off licence
For example:
- a fire destroys your stock, and you need to replace everything
- someone breaks into your off licence and steals a large amount of product
Read more about stock insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your off licence.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs attributed to your off licence
- property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
- tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
- includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help you protect your professional reputation
For example:
- you haven’t been registered correctly with HMRC, and need to pay associated legal costs
- an employee’s wrongful termination lawsuit results in legal costs for your off licence
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- accidental injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you suffer a head injury while reaching for a heavy crate of stock, and need time away from work
- your business partner injures their eye while gardening, and needs ongoing medical treatment
Read more about personal accident insurance
How much does off licence business 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
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 off license insurance quotes, real prices
£40.97 /month
£364.22 /year
A small family run off licence located in a small retail space
- 1-2 years' experience
- Limited company
- 1 employees
- Based in Edinburgh
Public liability
£2,000,000
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Stock
£5,000
£84.85 /month
£754.22 /year
A large off licence located on a busy high street and have an ATM
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 3 employees
- Based in Sunderland
Public liability
£5,000,000
Employers' liability
£10,000,000
Stock
£30,000
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 |
|---|---|---|
Main building | £200 | £400 |
Stock | £200 | £4000 |
Contents | £200 | £4000 |
Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
Public liability | No excess | £750 |
Product 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
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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 team any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
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.
Example claim
Having off licence shop insurance through Simply Business has saved businesses thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Tom saved more than £11,900
An electrical fire at Tom’s (not his real name) shop premises broke out overnight, damaging his Christmas stock, wooden shelving, and lighting. The stock, building and contents cover added to his off licence insurance policy helped cover Tom’s repair and replacement costs.
Insurance payout
£11,908.17
Covering the cost of fire damage
Tom’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Tom’s policy terms
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of 5 back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,768 reviews
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Off licence 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 insurance for off licences. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
Public and product liability insurance is often an important cover for shops – it’s designed to protect you if someone is injured or suffers an illness, or their property is damaged, because of your business. For example, if you’re running a sandwich shop, is there a risk that someone may get food poisoning? However unlikely, incidents like this do hit thousands of retailers every day, making liability insurance an important backstop.
Are you hiring staff? If so, you’re usually required by law to take out employers’ liability insurance, even if it’s for a temporary team member, or seasonal staff. You’ll face fines of up to £2,500 a day for anyone you haven’t covered correctly.
From there, you can pick and choose from other specific protection for your shop’s stock, equipment, fixtures and fittings, and the building(s) you use. Our shop insurance quotes are flexible – you can bundle everything into one policy or go for just one or two covers, depending on what you need.
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 0146 683 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 installments.
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
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