Pet business insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why is pet care insurance important?
Working with animals, plus the general public. Anyone with experience knows there are no two days, dogs, or owners the same, and the insurance you rely on will likely need to cover multiple risks. Whether you’re a pet minder or run a pet parlour, we’ll help you build your policy around our pet care public and product liability cover for injuries and property damage.
- rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ public liability customer reviews
- optional personal accident cover for your own accidents and injuries
- dog daycare insurance, plus cats and small animals
What does animal care insurance cover?
We’ll start with public and product liability cover, a key part of most pet care insurance policies. Our cover is built to protect you against property damage claims – whether you’re at fault or not – along with third party accidents and injuries. From there, you can include employers’ liability insurance for any team members, plus equipment, stock and legal expenses cover, and personal accident insurance for your own injuries.
The type of covers available to you will depend on your exact trade. For example, pet groomers may have different covers available to them than pet minders, so make sure you check before getting a quote. Below we’ve listed some covers that are commonly available to pet care businesses.
Public and product liability insurance
In case your pet business causes an injury, illness, or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your physio business.
Tools insurance
In case your pet care tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Stock insurance
In case the supplies you rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your pet business.
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 pet business causes an injury, illness, or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, caused by your pet business
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- you accidentally catch a cat’s paw in a car door, and they need a visit to the vet’s
- a dog shampoo product you use causes an allergic reaction, and you’re sued for compensation
**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 physio business.
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:
- your employee gets scratched by a cat while working for you, and holds you responsible for complications due to an infection
- one of your part-time workers cuts their hand on a transport crate, which needs fixing
Tools insurance
In case your pet care tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by builders tools insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of your hand tools and portable electronics
- your tools while they’re on a client’s premises or in transit in the UK, in any vehicle you own or lease
For example:
- a new order of safety harnesses falls out of your van while in transit, and needs replacing
- three new pet strollers are damaged in a flood on your business premises
Read more about tools insurance
Stock insurance
In case the supplies you rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of your essentials, including pet food, litter materials, and cleaning supplies
For example:
- a fire on your business premises destroys your stock of pet food
- you need to replace your specialist cleaning supply stock, after a mouse infestation goes undetected
Read more about stock insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your pet business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs attributed to your pet 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:
- your employee classifications are found to be incorrect, and you begin to incur legal fees
- an apprentice working for you raises a discrimination claim, and you need to pay for legal representation
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 or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you slip and fall on a wet floor at work, injuring your lower back
- your employee breaks their leg while riding on their day off, and needs six weeks off normal duties for recovery
Read more about personal accident insurance
How much does pet 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 pet business insurance quotes, real prices
£6.99 /month
£49.85 /year
A part time animal minder working with clients in the local area
- Less than 1 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Luton
Public liability
£1,000,000
Employers' liability
Not included
Contents & business equipment
Not included
£29.70 /month
£264.04 /year
A small dog walking company working with clients across the UK
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 3 employees
- Based in Nottingham
Public liability
£2,000,000
Employers' liability
£10,000,000
Contents & business equipment
£5,000
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 |
|---|---|---|
Public liability | £100 | £2500 |
Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
Tools | £60 | £500 |
Stock | £100 | £500 |
Business and office equipment | £50 | £750 |
Professional indemnity | No excess | £2500 |
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.
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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.
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 39,717 reviews
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Dog business 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 pet business insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
This depends on your business, and which insurer is providing your cover. Prices start from £6.56 a month for our pet care customers – we work this out by taking the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 January - 31 August 2021). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Whether it’s a brand new product you’re trialling, or a customer favourite you’ve stocked for years, if you’re selling or providing treats or food for animals in your care, you risk a claim if there’s an allergic reaction or other connected illness. Product and public liability insurance is designed to protect you and your clients against this risk, with cover options from our insurers starting at £1 million.
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.
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 0146 683. 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
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