Professional indemnity insurance for photographers

In case you’ve made a mistake in your work or provided a service that didn’t meet the expected standards.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• professional negligence
• advice that you give as part of your work

For example:

• you’ve been hired to photograph an event and your camera has a technical glitch afterwards that means you lose all the photos
• you’ve taken on a photography job where the brief is specified in your contract, and your client doesn’t think your work has met the brief

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Public liability insurance

In case you accidentally injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for photographers?

Claims against your business for:

• injury caused by you or an employee
• damage to property – whether it’s yours or someone else’s
• property damage caused by other photographers or clerical assistants you’ve employed

For example:

• a member of the public or a model you’re working with trips over your tripod and injures themselves
• your photography equipment scratches a client’s floor paint while you’re setting up at their premises
• one of your employees stands on the bride’s dress and tears a hole in it

What you’ll need additional cover for

• underwater photography
• using your equipment in the air, for example when strapped to a drone

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case your employee is involved in an accident or mistake while they’re working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• your employee injuring themselves or getting sick over the course of their work

**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:

• one of your photographers falls down the stairs during a shoot and breaks their wrist

Portable equipment insurance

In case something happens to your photography equipment while you’re out and about.

What’s typically covered by portable equipment insurance for photographers?

• loss, damage or theft of your own cameras, tripods, lenses, laptops or lighting kits while you’re in transit
• loss, damage or theft of other people’s equipment that’s under your control (e.g. you’re transporting an employee’s equipment to an event on their behalf)

For example:

• your camera is stolen when you’re on site at a shoot

Stock insurance

In case something happens to the materials you’re responsible for.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of the materials you need for your business

For example:

• there’s a flood at your property, and the marketing flyers you’ve had printed are ruined by water damage

Read more about stock insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case your photography equipment is lost, damaged or stolen.

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

• loss, damage or theft of things like cameras, tripods, lenses, laptops, or lighting kits that you keep at the address you’ve specified in your policy

For example:

• your photography gear is destroyed by a fire
• a burglar breaks into your office and steals your camera

What you’ll need additional cover for

• any photography equipment that exceeds your policy’s limit for the value of a single item (for example, if your single article limit is £2,000 and your camera is worth £3,000, you’d need to have extra cover in place)
• loss, damage or theft of equipment while it’s elsewhere

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, like disputes with employees
• the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC investigations, and tax and compliance disputes
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help you protect your business’s reputation

For example:

• if you’re investigated by HMRC (or selected at random for an audit), this cover could help with the tax enquiries – for you and any other directors, as well as for the business
• you need to defend your legal rights following the dismissal of an employee

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident.

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 trip and fall over a tripod and break your ankle
• you shut your hand in the car door on the way to work and break a finger

Read more about personal accident insurance

Is public liability enough for third party property damage?

You may need more than public liability to cover certain types of damage.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Does photographers insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider videographer insurance or designers’ insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Photo booth insurance
• Photographic studio
• Photo processing & printing shop
• Photographic equipment shop
• Artist insurance
• Journalist insurance

Other Covers

• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance
• Self employed insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of cover – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.