It business insurance

Professional indemnity

In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.

What’s typically covered by IT company professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract
• advice which turns out to be incorrect
• mistakes in your work that cost you (or others) money to fix

For example :

• your client suffers a financial loss after your publish their article with errors included
• you guarantee a certain amount of business for a client, which isn’t delivered
• someone fails an exam after your training, holding you responsible for the costs incurred

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Public liability insurance

In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for an IT business?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone else’s property, caused by your work
• injuries caused by you at work, or afterwards because of your work
• accidental injury or damage caused by your employees (if you have any)

For example:

• you accidentally knock your client’s car when parking up outside their house, causing damage to the paintwork on one side
• a customer trips on a loose cable while on your premises, falling and breaking their arm in several places
• an employee is mopping the floor, but forgets to put up a safety sign, causing an electrician to fall and injure their back

**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 IT business

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury to someone you employ, including contractors and temps, that happens as a result of working for you
• a member of staff (including casual workers) falling ill due to your business

**Employers’ liability insurance is usually required by law if you employ anyone – including part-time staff, temporary workers, and in most cases, volunteers. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 for every day you don’t have cover in place. A main exemption is unincorporated family businesses where all your employees are family members.**

For example:

• one of your employees falls down some stairs in your business premises, and makes a claim against you for chronic shoulder pain
• a temporary employee traps their hand in a door at your premises, causing several fractures
• a member of staff trips on a ledge on their way to a meeting, injuring their hip

Contents insurance

In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.

What’s typically covered by business equipment insurance?

Claims against your business for:

For example:

• a faulty toaster causes a fire in your office kitchen, badly damaging the oven and microwave
• a three-piece sofa suite is ripped by vandals and needs replacing
• thieves break into your office and steal three tablets used by your sales team

Read more about business equipment insurance

Buildings insurance

In case something happens to your business premises.

What’s typically covered by business building insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• repair and rebuild costs after damage caused by a storm, fire, or vandalism
• fittings and fixtures that get damaged
• underground pipes and cables, if you’re responsible for them

For example:

• someone tries to force entry into your shop, damaging the door, which needs replacing
• a burst pipe causes water damage to floorboards and walls – they need to be replaced
• equipment catches fire and damages your building, which will need to be completely rebuilt

Read more about business buildings insurance

Business legal insurance

In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your IT business.

What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• a dispute relating to debt recovery, including judgement enforcements
• an investigation into your tax affairs
• someone using your company’s identity illegally

For example:

• one of your clients has informed you that they believe you haven’t met the contractual requirements of their purchase agreement, and they’re refusing to pay an outstanding invoice
• HMRC investigates your recent tax return, triggered by a fluctuation in your business income
• someone gets hold of your company bank details and uses them to buy goods and services

Read more about business legal 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?

Claims against your business for:

• accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• medical costs, lost income, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• your business partner, who’s named on the policy, is injured while ice skating and left permanently disabled
• you fall down some stairs at home and lose the use of your right arm
• an employee you’ve covered is playing squash at the weekend and hits their head on the wall, causing concussion and a hospital stay

Read more about personal accident insurance

Excess insurance

In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.

What’s typically covered by excess insurance?

Claims made by you for:

• the cost of the excess you’d have to pay when making a claim on a cover included in your insurance policy

For example :

• after a heavy storm you need to make a claim on your building cover – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
• a leak in the bathroom causes a guest to slip and injure themselves and thanks to excess cover, there’s no excess to pay on the claim
• a tenant’s suitcase scratches the wooden flooring in your hallway – you won’t have to pay any excess on your accidental damage claim