Looking for Self Employed Insurance?
If you’re self-employed then you don’t fall under the same benefits as full-time such as health, sickness pay or protection for your work. So, what happens if something goes wrong?
Working for yourself can be such a liberating experience and offer you all the flexibility and freedom you don’t get with full-time employment, but without self-employed insurance you could face hefty financial consequences should you need to replace equipment or experience a claim from an employee or customer.
Why might I need self-employed insurance?
There’s a number of things you may want to be covered for in order to have peace of mind and financial security, particularly if you have employees depending on you too:
Public liability insurance for the self-employed
If you’re self-employed in a role or industry where you’re coming into contact with the public and their possessions, such as builders, dog groomers, beauticians or decorators, then you could be at risk if you cause damage to them or their property. This type of self-employed insurance policy can help to cover any compensation or legal costs if you’ve been found to be negligent whilst on the job.
Do you need professional indemnity insurance?
They say that the customer is always right, but if they’re dissatisfied with your work and want to make a claim against you or your company then you could be facing a long and expensive battle. This type of self-employed insurance can help to cover the legal costs and pay out without harming your financials too much.
Protecting yourself and your employees
If you have employees working for you the most important self-employed insurance policy is without a doubt employers’ liability insurance. This is required by law and helps to protect you financially in case an employee becomes hurt or poorly whilst working for you. There’s a fine for those who trade without it, and you’ll need to be as accurate as possible when giving information to the insurer about the number of employees you have.
Falling ill when you’re self-employed
If you’re self-employed and become ill you could be facing a lot of downtime and financial consequences. Protecting yourself against this loss of income will help take some of the pressure of recovery off and help you to get back on your feet and back to business. Private health insurance might be a good one to look into as it can also help you to get faster treatment on the NHS or through private facilities too.
Self Employed Insurance – Useful FAQs
Things like laptops and mobile phones can usually be covered under your contents insurance although you’ll need to make sure they’re not excluded if only used for business purposes. With other equipment like tools or specialist machinery you might need to take out a policy extension as the value could be above the upper limit.
If you’re reaping the rewards of a successful self-employed business congrats! Just make sure that if your circumstances change, you’re letting your insurer know so they can adjust your cover in line with the size of your business.
If you’ve been diagnosed with one of a specified list of serious illnesses which prevents you from working long-term such as heart attack, cancer or a stroke, then you may be able to receive a tax-free lump sum to help with your mortgage and living expenses.
If you’d like to take out a number of policies to cover yourself and your employees (such as employers’ liability insurance, goods in transit insurance and public liability insurance), then your insurer may be able to offer you a bundled policy with a single monthly payment – just get in touch with them to ask.
You will need to take out public liability insurance even if you conduct your business from your own home. This can help to cover any clients that come to your premises then become ill or injured.