Working from home 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 home office insurance important?
Whether you’re out and about or mainly work from home insurance, is a must for millions of UK businesses. From public and product liability cases – involving accidents and property damage – and employee injuries, to theft, flood damage, or a personal accident, working from home can bring the risks closer. Insurance can help compensate a client, for example, or replace a piece of kit, depending on your business type.
- insurance for home-based business risks – from public liability to theft and flood
- cover for what you need, like your products, stock, and equipment
- optional personal accident cover for your own accidents and injuries
Working from home business insurance – what’s covered?
For business insurance, working from home policies often start with public and product liability protection, covering you against accidents and damage to third parties and their property – for example, if a work contact visits your home and suffers an injury. From there, you can add professional indemnity cover, protection for stock, equipment and personal accidents, plus employers’ liability for anyone you employ, whether they’re working in your home or elsewhere.
Public and product liability insurance
In case your business and products cause injuries or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.
Professional indemnity insurance
In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to equipment like your phone or laptop.
Tools insurance
In case something happens to your home business kit.
Stock insurance
In case something happens to the products and materials you rely on.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your physio business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or elsewhere.
Public and product liability insurance
In case your business and products cause injuries or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, because of your business
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- a client visits your home and trips over a laptop cable, breaking their knee
- one of your suppliers leaves their briefcase in your hallway, and your dog chews the corner
**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:
- 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:
- you organise a team meeting in your home and an employee slips on the wet hallway floor, falling and breaking her ankle
- your employee is lifting a heavy crate into the back of your van and injures his lower back
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:
- you make a mistake while completing a report for a client and they raise a negligence claim for direct losses
- one of your employees unintentionally infringes a client’s intellectual property rights, and you’re sued for damages
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to equipment like your phone or laptop.
What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?
- accidental damage to your professional fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run your business
- theft, flood, and fire damage
For example:
- your home is hit by a seasonal flood and the desk you use for work is damaged, as well as your laptop and phone
- the computer you use for work is damaged during a children’s party in your home
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Tools insurance
In case something happens to your home business kit.
What’s typically covered by tools insurance?
- the specialist tools you use for work, like handheld or portable electronic equipment
- loss, damage, or theft
For example:
- one of your children drops a set of tools you use for your home-based upholstery business, and you need to repair or replace them
- you’re running an ironing and laundry service from home, and your kit gets damaged in a flood in your utility space
Read more about tools insurance
Stock insurance
In case something happens to the products and materials you rely on.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of essential stock items, like ingredients or spare parts
For example:
- a new order of treatment products you use to run your home-based hair and beauty business are stolen from your doorstep
- you make a large order with a supplements supplier for your home-based nutritionist business, which gets ruined by flooding
Read more about stock insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your physio business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs attributed to your business
- property damage, nuisance, or trespass and associated legal costs
- HMRC, tax, and compliance issues, if they come up
- 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 registered your business correctly with HMRC, and begin to incur legal costs as a result
- an employee raises a wrongful termination claim against you, and you need to pay for legal support
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or elsewhere.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- injury or death at work or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you injure your eye while playing squash, and need time away from work for treatment
- your business partner, who you’ve covered on the policy, breaks their collarbone in a full down your front steps
Read more about personal accident insurance
This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions
How much does home workers 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 working from home insurance quotes, real prices
£15.26 /month
£132.56 /year
A self employed web designer working on small contracts for local businesses
- 2-3 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Manchester
Public liability
£1,000,000
Professional indemnity
£100,000
Contents & business equipment
£5,000
£33.89 /month
£301.23 /year
A self-employed IT contractor who works with a number of small to medium-sized clients
- 5+ years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Manchester
Public liability
£2,000,000
Professional indemnity
£500,000
Contents & business equipment
£15,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 17/08/2021). 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 2021
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
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Working from home 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 home-based business risks. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
If you’re working from home, house insurance may not be sufficient cover for the risks you face, which often aren’t immediately obvious. For example, a desk-based job may not seem to come with a lot of risk, but from laptop theft to a client slipping on your wet floor, accidents are extremely common.
Public liability insurance, as well as product liability, can cover you if someone makes a claim against you for injury or damage. For example, a client might slip on your wet hallway floor, causing a back injury. Or maybe you’re running a small catering service and someone gets ill after eating your products.
You can also add professional indemnity insurance for loss-causing errors in your work, stock and tools insurance for your essential kit and supplies, plus employers’ liability cover, which is usually a legal requirement if anyone is directly working for you.
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.
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.
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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