Self-employed insurance

Public liability insurance

In case you’re blamed for an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by self-employed public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your business
• injuries caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

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

For example:

• a member of the public trips over your tool kit which you’ve left on the pavement, falling and causing multiple minor injuries
• you scratch a client’s car while moving a piece of machinery into their garage

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee, including a contractor or casual labourer, suing you after falling ill because of working for you, or
• making a claim for an injury they’ve had while working for you

For example:

• an employee traps their finger in a piece of machinery while working for you, causing long-term nerve damage
• one of the contractors you’ve hired falls from a height while working for you, breaking their leg

**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.**

Professional indemnity insurance

In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business 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 client sees a big drop in website traffic, and claims this is due to poor advice you gave
• you receive a claim for compensation, after an employee makes a mistake in their reporting work and causes your client a financial loss

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Contents and office equipment insurance

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

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

• accidental damage to your fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run the business
• theft, flood, and fire damage

For example:

• your business partner drops your phone from a height, damaging it beyond repair
• a kitchen fire damages the essential equipment you use to run your home baking business, which all needs replacing

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your trade tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your hand tools, power tools, and/or specialist equipment

For example:

• the tools you keep in stock for apprentice and junior workers are stolen from your locked garage

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to the materials and products you keep in supply.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your work materials, or items you’re planning to sell

For example:

• the stock of products you keep to supply your wedding makeup business is damaged in a flood
• a large order of stock is stolen from your locked garage

Read more about stock insurance

Building insurance

In case something happens to your business 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:

• a flood causes serious damage to the fixtures and fittings in your interior design studio
• you need to temporarily close your self-employed estate agency business, after a storm causes structural damage to your premises

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 buildings insurance

Own plant insurance

In case your own plant machinery, like an excavator, is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of larger equipment like skips and sanding machines

For example:

• your excavator is stolen from the client’s works site, and needs replacing
• your sanding machine is jammed and damaged by an employee

What you’ll need additional cover for:

• plant machinery you’ve rented – you’ll need to add our specific hired-in plant cover for this

Read more about own plant insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case your rented plant machinery, like a drilling unit, is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of things like excavators and saws which you’ve hired in

For example:

• you hire a skip for a job and your employee reverses into it while driving an excavator, causing damage to the excavator you’ve hired
• a hired-in plant for a hospital works contract is stolen from your locked business unit

What you’ll need additional cover for:

• tools and plant machinery which you own yourself – you’ll need to add our specific own plant insurance or tools cover for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Business legal insurance

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

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs attributed to your business
• 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:

• an employee raises a wrongful termination claim against you, and you need to pay for legal support
• your employees routinely do company work on their own devices, and you run into an electronic security claim, incurring legal costs

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 break your ankle while playing football, and need time away from your PT business for hospital treatment
• an employee, who you’ve covered on the policy, injures her finger in an accident at your pet grooming business, and needs time off work for physio and recovery

Read more about personal accident insurance