Sole trader insurance

Public liability insurance

In case you’re blamed for an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for a sole trader?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your business
• injuries caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• a client trips over a piece of machinery you’ve left out, falling and breaking his collarbone
• you damage a client’s bike while moving it into your garage for repairs

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee, including a contractor or casual labourer, suing you after falling ill because of working for you, or
• making a claim for an injury they’ve had while working for you

For example:

• an employee is struck by a moving forklift truck while working for you, and suffers a head injury
• one of the contractors you’ve hired traps their foot under a piece of equipment in your garage, breaking their ankle

**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:

• a client raises a negligence claim against your small accountancy firm, because of a mistake you made which has cost them money to fix
• one of your employees publishes a blog post which infringes your client’s intellectual property rights, and you’re sued for compensation

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Contents and office equipment insurance

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

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

• accidental damage to your fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run the business
• theft, flood, and fire damage

For example:

• a flash flood damages your office equipment, including your laptop and multifunction printer
• your employee leaves their company laptop on a train, and it’s never recovered

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your trade tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your hand tools, power tools, and/or specialist equipment

For example:

• your electrical company tool kits are stolen from your locked garage over the weekend

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to the materials and products you keep in supply.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your work materials, or items you’re planning to sell

For example:

• you take delivery of a big summer stock order, which gets stolen while you’re speaking with a supplier
• the carpet you keep in stock for your fitting business customers is destroyed in a fire

Read more about stock insurance

Building insurance

In case something happens to your business premises.

What’s typically covered by building insurance?

• the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
• damage to fixtures and fittings
• damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for

For example:

• a fire causes serious damage to the fixtures and fittings in your flooring contractor premises
• you need to temporarily close your freelance design business studio, after a storm causes damage to your large front windows

What you’ll need additional cover for:

• tenants’ improvements – changes to the property’s structure which you’ve organised and paid for yourself, like partition walls or wooden flooring

Read more about business buildings insurance

Own plant insurance

In case your own plant machinery, like an excavator, is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of larger equipment like skips and sanding machines

For example:

• your excavator is stolen from the client’s works site, and needs replacing
• your sanding machine is jammed and damaged by an employee

What you’ll need additional cover for:

• plant machinery you’ve rented – you’ll need to add our specific hired-in plant cover for this

Read more about own plant insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case your rented plant machinery, like a drilling unit, is lost, stolen, or damaged.

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

• loss, damage, or theft of things like excavators and saws which you’ve hired in

For example:

• you hire a skip for a job and your employee reverses into it, causing damage
• the excavator you’ve hired for hospital works contract is stolen from your locked business unit

What you’ll need additional cover for:

• tools and plant machinery which you own yourself – you’ll need to add our specific own plant insurance or tools cover for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs attributed to your 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:

• a former employee raises a discrimination claim against you, and you need to hire legal support
• you need to raise a breach of confidentiality claim against a contractor working for you, and incur legal costs

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or away from work.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• accidental injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
• lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you break your foot while playing football, and need time away from your personal trainer business for physio and recovery
• an employee, who you’ve covered on the policy, suffers a head injury while reaching for a file on your office shelf, and needs time off work for hospital treatment

Read more about personal accident insurance