Personal Liability Insurance UK
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What is personal liability insurance?
Personal liability insurance can cover compensation claims made against you if someone sues you for injury or damage to their property. This isn’t a very common type of insurance in the UK, but most businesses will have liability cover such as public liability insurance or employers’ liability insurance as a core part of their insurance policy.
- public liability insurance for self-employed pros, from £1 million to £10 million
- 24/7 UK-based claims support from an expert team
- rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ public liability customer reviews
What does personal liability insurance cover?
Personal liability insurance is designed to cover the cost of a claim made against you by a third party for property damage or bodily injury. For example if a neighbour claims you’re responsible for breaking their garden fence, a personal liability policy could cover the cost of damages or compensation. It’s uncommon for people in the UK to take out personal liability insurance on its own, although it’s sometimes included as an extra cover in insurance packages.
What type of business insurance do I need?
We’re a business insurance broker. This means we don’t offer personal liability insurance, as it only covers individuals. However, here’s an overview of some of the most popular covers businesses add to their insurance policies.
Public liability insurance
In case your business causes an injury or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for you.
Professional indemnity insurance
In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or elsewhere.
Public liability insurance
In case your business causes an injury or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, caused by your business
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.
For example:
- a client visiting your office trips over a loose laptop cable, injuring their knee and hand
- while removing your equipment from your client’s premises, you damage their wall
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for you.
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)
For example:
- your employee injures their lower back while moving stock around the warehouse
- - a Christmas temp traps their hand in a broken window frame at your office, causing long-term nerve damage
**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:
- you guarantee a certain amount of marketing activity for a client, and this isn’t delivered, causing them a financial loss
Read more about professional indemnity 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?
- 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 sprain your ankle while jogging, and can’t work at full capacity for four weeks
- your secretary trips over while working at an event, fracturing their wrist
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 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
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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 personal liability insurance quotes, real prices
£20.13 /month
£178.93 /month
A part time baker who owns a small bakery
- 1-2 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Manchester
Public liability
£1,000,000
Employers’ liability
Not included
Professional indemnity
Not included
£39.03 /month
£346.89 /month
A small and independent coffee shop located on a small village high street
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 3 employees
- Based in Liverpool
Public liability
£5,000,000
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Professional indemnity
Not included
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 14/09/2021). 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 |
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.
Looking for something else?
Depending on your set-up, clients and business type, these expert covers might be helpful too:
When you run a quote you can select from a range of covers.
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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 any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.
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Personal liability 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 personal liability insurance.
You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
The cost of personal liability coverage will depend on your insurer and the level of coverage you need. If you’re looking for liability cover as part of your business insurance, our prices start at £6.56 a month for public liability and £5.56 a month for employers’ liability.
It’s unusual for people in the UK to take out independent personal liability cover. If you work for someone, it’s likely their public liability insurance will cover any damage or injury to a third party that you’re responsible for. Meanwhile, if you’re self-employed, it’s likely that employers’ liability and public liability cover will make up a core part of your business insurance.
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.
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.
At Simply Business we have insurance covers all kinds of trades such as:
Is your profession not listed? When you run a quote you can select your trade from over 1,000 options.
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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