Looking for Sole Trader Insurance?
Sole trader insurance can be tailored to your business to provide the precise level of cover your business requires.
No matter whether you work from home, on the road, in a pop-up or even online, if you’re a sole trader you’ll know that it can be tricky keeping all the plates spinning. Sole trader insurance combines various policy options to give you the peace of mind that you have the right level of cover in place, whilst only having to manage one payment and renewal date.
The benefits of being a sole trader
There are plenty of professions that lend themselves to being run by a sole trader. All you need to do is find the career you love, register your business name with HMRC and you can start trading.
Having full control over your business with no investors or anyone setting unreasonable targets is liberating – but not without its disadvantages, for example; the buck stops with you, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid and you are liable in the event of legal action or compensation claims.
What kind of businesses need sole trader insurance?
There are so many different businesses run by sole traders that could benefit from this type of insurance. As your business grows, you may find that your sole trader insurance needs change too – but what kind of businesses would need to consider this insurance?
What can sole trader insurance cover?
Most insurers have their own stipulations and exclusions, but generally sole trader insurance consists of a range of policies bundled together to make one policy with a single, easy to manage premium and renewal date. For example:
Protecting the people around you with sole traders insurance
Arguably the two most common policies that sole traders of all professions want to purchase are there to protect them against claims by customers or clients, as well as the people around them who might be affected by their business. These are:
Offers you financial protection should a member of the public become injured or have their property damaged by your business. This could be something like working on a customer’s house and accidentally damaging a water pipe, to leaving water on a customer’s floor after cleaning that caused them to slip and break their ankle. This policy will help you to pay and compensation claim, as well as both sets of legal fees.
If your service is mainly focussed around offering advice or guidance then this one might be for you. If a client were to lose money or suffer damages from a decision you’ve made, or their data and important documents was leaked, then professional indemnity can help cover the resulting costs.
Are you looking after the tools of your trade?
As a sole trader you may be using specialist equipment or tools to help you conduct your everyday business – and if they were to become damaged, lost or stolen would you be able to cover the cost of replacing them?
Contents insurance can help to get you back on your feet quickly and often with like-for-like tools, so you’ll be able to keep downtime to a minimum and minimise disruption to your business.
Sole Trader Insurance – Useful FAQs
If your business has grown and you need extra help, you’re legally obliged to purchase employers’ liability insurance. Without it, not only could you be facing huge fines, but also your business could be financially crippled by a compensation claim.
Both are useful sole trader policies, but professional indemnity protects you financially against allegations of professional negligence, whilst public liability covers you in the event of 3rd party claims due to injury, illness or loss of property.
If you think you might want to take out a couple of policies, for example, public liability, contents insurance, stock insurance and professional indemnity, you can ask your insurer to bundle them together as a single sole trader insurance policy. This will give you the cover you need with only one payment and renewal date to worry about.
Insurers will often provide you with a proof of cover certificate or documentation which you can then provide to your clients.