Commercial insurance

Public liability insurance

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

What’s typically covered by commercial public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your business activities
• illness or injuries as a result of your business
• employees causing accidental damage or injuries

For example:

• while hosting a meeting, you leave a cable running across the open office floor and your client trips, spraining their ankle
• you serve a client sandwiches with a trace of sesame seeds, causing an allergic reaction
• your employee drops heavy equipment on your client’s floor, causing extensive damage

**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 business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• injuries to staff (including casual labourers and contractors) that are caused as a result of your business
• illness suffered by an employee (including temps and casual workers) caused by 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 office manager breaks their finger while trying to close a faulty window at your business premises
• your receptionist trips over a cable running across the floor of your office, breaking their ankle
• a temp worker scratches their arm on one of your tools, and the injury becomes infected

Professional indemnity

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

What’s typically covered by commercial professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• mistakes in the advice you give, which lead to a financial loss for your client
• errors in your certification services that mean a client loses out financially
• negligence in your advice or services that becomes costly for your client

For example:

• your advice on improving a client’s business performance leads to a financial loss for them
• you deliver the wrong certification and training that’s costly for your client to fix
• you make a mistake in a client’s tax return that leads to an HMRC fine

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Contents insurance

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

What’s typically covered by business contents insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• theft or vandalism to your office furniture or business equipment
• damage or destruction caused by fire or flood

For example:

• a fire caused by faulty electrics destroys your office furniture and other contents such as business equipment
• someone forces entry to your business premises and graffitis your office furniture
• a leaking pipe floods the ground floor of your business premises, and you need to replace your damaged contents

Read more about business contents insurance

Business legal insurance

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

What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• costs and expenses for disputes relating to debt recovery, including judgement enforcement
• disputes with debt collectors, or any party who takes legal action against you, as a result of identity theft
• costs and expenses for contractual disputes arising from an agreement

For example:

• one of your clients isn’t happy with your work and believes you haven’t met the contractual requirements
• someone gets access to your company’s bank details and uses them to buy goods and services
• your client is disputing a contract they had with you on the provision of a service

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 death or injury, whether it happens at work or elsewhere, for anyone you’ve chosen to cover on your policy
• lost income, plus medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• an employee you’ve covered on the policy slips on ice while commuting to the office, injuring their lower back
• you’re tidying the office and an old printer falls onto your shoulder, causing a serious injury
• your business partner bumps their head after a fall, causing ongoing health complications which stop them from working

Read more about personal accident insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to your products and consumables.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to (and loss of) stock, following fires, floods, or vandalism
• theft of stock following a break-in
• costs involved with replacing the stock you need to operate

For example :

• someone forces entry to your business premises and steals from your stockroom
• an important stock order falls from the back of your van and is never recovered
• you’ve taken a stock delivery, which is stolen while you’re speaking to a neighbour

Read more about stock insurance

Tool insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tool insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• accidental damage to your tools and equipment
• theft of the tools you use for your business
• loss of your business tools

For example:

• your tools are stolen from your car or van
• you lose some expensive equipment on the way to a job
• a flood causes irreparable damage to your tools

Read more about tool insurance

Buildings insurance

In case something happens to your business premises.

What’s typically covered by business building insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to the structure of your building if there’s been a fire, flood, or vandalism
• contents, fittings, and equipment if they’re damaged by an event like a fire or flood
• repair and rebuild costs

For example:

• your shop’s wooden floor is damaged during a flood and needs replacing
• your employee damages an interior wall installing new equipment, as well as a glass door
• after a pipe bursts, you need to spend lots of money replacing flooring

Read more about business buildings insurance

Own plant insurance

In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• replacement of own plant machinery should yours be damaged or stolen
• water damage to your own plant machinery
• accidentally injuring someone else while you’re working, or afterwards as a result of the work you’ve done

For example :

• an excavator is stolen during an overnight break-in at your works site
• you drill through a water pipe while working on a construction site, causing extensive damage
• your storage unit is flooded, damaging your cement mixer and generator beyond repair

Read more about plant machinery insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case plant machinery, like excavators, you’ve hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.

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

Claims against your business for:

• expensive costs and charges, if hired equipment gets damaged, lost, or stolen
• equipment that’s on-site or in transit
• causing injury or property damage while you’re working, or afterwards following your work

For example :

• thieves steal a generator from your trailer while you’re taking a break at a service station
• you accidentally drive a digger through someone’s fence while working on site
• a hired cement mixer and generator are made unusable following a flood

Read more about plant machinery insurance

Contract works insurance

In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.

What’s typically covered by contract works insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• repair costs for work that’s been damaged or destroyed while on the job
• labour, materials and tools that’ll get your work back to the stage it was in before the damage
• damage caused by fires, floods, storms, vandalism, or theft

For example :

• there’s a fire at your place of work, setting back the completion date of the job
• a flood destroys your specialist equipment
• someone breaks into your site and steals your tools

Read more about contract works 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:

• when you make a claim on a cover included in your business insurance policy, you won’t need to pay excess

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