Looking for Business Insurance?
Running your own business can feel like you’re spinning a lot of plates but taking out business insurance can offer you peace of mind and financial protection – so you can concentrate on your customers and growth.
Business insurance can help to protect you against risks that you may face every day. Although there isn’t one blanket business insurance policy, you can build up a level of cover using different policies that offer protection against accidents, damages, professional mistakes and theft. The three most common forms of business insurance policy are:
Professional indemnity insurance
There are particular businesses where the service you offer is giving advice or guidance, or you handle client data and intellectual property, and it may be a smart decision to protect yourself and your business. If a customer suffers a loss or damages as a result of your business then they may want to make a compensation claim and you could end up paying for loss of earnings and both sets of legal fees too.
Businesses that interact with third parties, whether that’s clients, suppliers or simply members of the public such as accountants, contractors, marketing agencies and IT consultants, may find this type of business insurance particularly helpful.
Public liability insurance
Even though you may take every precaution possible to make your business as low risk as possible, there are unforeseen circumstances that could mean that a member of the public becomes injured or ill, or even has their property damaged. Even if they’re not your customers, they are still able to make a compensation claim against you which would have serious financial ramifications and a large bill that you may not be able to pay.
Although this business insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it may be smart to take out, particularly if the industry you work in could be seen as high risk. For example, if you were putting up scaffolding and a bracket fell onto a parked car below, causing a lot of denting, you would face the responsibility of paying for the repair.
Another potential claim could be a customer tripping on a loose floorboard in your shop and twisting their ankle. If they were then unable to work for a period time, you could be liable for paying their loss of wages as well as the legal fees and compensation amount too.
Employers’ liability insurance
A legal requirement, this business insurance offers you financial cover should an employee become ill or injured whilst at work. From slipping on a wet floor to sustaining an injury from a piece of equipment, the work place has varying risks no matter how strict your health and safety policies are.
Even if an employee no longer works for you, they could still raise a claim against you for a long-standing injury or illness that happened during their time with you. The costs associated with this can add up to a hefty amount as if found negligent, you could end up paying the:
- Compensation amount
- Loss of earnings
- Your legal costs
- The claimant’s legal fees
Other types of business insurance
Although the three types of business insurance we’ve mentioned are the main ones, they are by no means the only ones you may need to think about. Depending on the type of business you run you may want to look at more specialist policies that offer you the right level of protection.
For example, a plumber might want to think about taking out tool insurance, but a hairdresser may want to think about buildings insurance. When deciding which policies would be best for you it’s a good idea to sit down and think about:
This information will also be good to have to hand during the policy purchase as insurers will need to know this sort of detail in order to work out the right amount of financial protection you’ll need.
Business Insurance – Useful FAQs
If an employee has become ill or injured at your business then they’re able to make a claim for compensation against you. Get in touch with your insurer who may be able to offer advice about what happens next and make you feel at ease financially.
Although public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance aren’t legally compulsory, employers’ liability insurance is if you have staff. For every day you trade without it, you could be fined £2,500.
Speak to your insurer when purchasing your policies and they may be able to offer you a bundle with a single monthly payment.
If you’ve lost client data or had sensitive documents hacked which has resulted in your client experiencing financial losses, then they may want to claim against you. With a professional indemnity policy you may be able to cover the payout amount as well as losses and legal fees too.