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What Is Business Insurance?

Business insurance covers you financially from potential risks and cases where something goes wrong with your business. Your insurance policy can help cover the cost of employee injury or property damage, compensation costs and legal fees. Business insurance cover can be invaluable in the event of an unforeseen event, such as a flood or fire.

You can get general business insurance or tailored commercial insurance policies. The right cover insurance can protect your livelihood, whether you’re a small business or you have a large team of employees.

What does a business insurance policy cover?

Business insurance typically covers many insurable events or items. If you need business insurance, you can choose the appropriate cover needed to protect your business. When you buy your premium, your business insurance policy can cover:

  • Damage to or theft of your business property, equipment and stock
  • Injury or property damage caused by your business
  • Sickness, injury or other employee-related issues such as contract violations
  • Third-party property damages caused by your business
  • Business interruption insurance for earnings lost due to an insured event (eg. flood)

Is business insurance a legal requirement for a business?

Businesses need employers liability insurance as it is a legal requirement for any business with one or more employees (who aren’t immediate family members). Employers liability insurance ensures that, in the event of illness or injury, staff can be compensated via the business insurance policy.

Professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance aren’t legal requirements. However, these types of business insurance policies are a good business decision. Some clients will only work with you if you have proper coverage, especially public liability insurance. Regulators and professional bodies will often require or advise that you get business insurance before you can become a member or licensed.

What other types of cover do businesses need?

You can add insurance elements to your business insurance policy. Here are some of the most common types of add-ons:

  • Product liability insurance: If a customer or client is injured or their property damaged by a product you sold them, product liability insurance covers you financially. This is often an add-on to public liability insurance.
  • Commercial buildings and business contents insurance: This protects your business premises and contents if they get damaged in an insurable event. These events typically include flood, theft or fire. It doesn’t typically cover large quantities of stock or tools – those may need to be covered by additional policies such as stock insurance or business equipment insurance.
  • Landlord insurance: This covers the cost of damage to your rental property and repairs. You can also include protection against financial loss of earnings due to an insured event. This includes burst pipes or boiler breakdowns, which means you can’t rent out your property while the repairs are made.
  • Key person cover: This policy protects your business if a key company employee dies or is diagnosed with a critical illness that may lead to a business interruption.
  • Cyber risk insurance: Cyber insurance covers cyber security claims and protects your business if your data is breached by a cyber attack. It is a more modern but vital add-on to commercial insurance.

What level of insurance does my business need?

The level of insurance, or how much you’re covered for, depends on the nature and size of your business. Even a sole trader working from home who is providing, financial advice carries the risk of significant losses.

It’s important to ensure you’re covered for everyday risks, such as breakages and being sued, which could lead to extensive legal expenses. Some professional bodies or regulators might set out a minimum level of business insurance coverage that they expect you to have.

Is business insurance worth it?

We believe business insurance is absolutely worth it. Like all insurance products, you don’t need business insurance until you do.

It’s tempting to think bad things won’t happen. But it’s worth considering if you could afford to cover the legal expenses when being sued or rebuilding your premises or replacing essential tools.

Having the right business insurance gives you the peace of mind that if the day comes when the worst happens, you’ll be covered. This is especially important in certain sectors, like logistics and removals, where there is high liability. Having the right insurance reassures your clients that if accidents occur, they can trust you to put it right.

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What types of cover are there?

There are three main types of business insurance available. The different types of business insurance can all work together or individually. You can specify what you need and leave out what you don’t.

Check Mark Public Liability Insurance

This type of insurance offers financial protection in the event your business injures a member of the public or damages their property. This includes your clients and their property. This may lead to some customers or clients insisting on public liability before they work with you. Public liability insurance also covers injury and damage accidentally caused by one of your employees, but only if you have employers’ liability insurance.

Check Mark Employer's Liability Insurance

Employer's liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ one or more members of staff outside of your immediate family. Employer's liability cover can help financially with the cost of compensation claims if your employees get ill or injured in the workplace. You’ll need to get employers’ liability insurance of at least £5 million, even if your members of staff are temporary or contractors. Without this insurance, you can be fined £2,500 every day you’re not insured.

Check Mark Professional Indemnity Insurance

Solicitors, accountants, architects and other business owners are required by regulators or professional bodies to have this type of insurance. Professional indemnity insurance covers you against financial or reputational loss. This may occur if your client takes legal action against you if your advice results in financial loss, or if your work causes damage or harm to others. Compensation claims can even be brought against you if you’ve offered a service or advice for free.

Tips to lower your business insurance costs

When you get business insurance, you can tailor an insurance policy to meet your requirements. There’s no one size fits all, so you don’t pay for elements of cover that you’ll never need.

Here are a few ways to help reduce the cost of your premium:

1

Reduce your level of cover

The higher the sum you need to insure, the more your policy premium will be. It’s worth working out what is the right insurance cover for you, rather than just going for a standard policy. To protect your business from significant financial loss, ensure you’re only paying for insurance that covers claims specific to your business activities. You should remove benefits that you don’t need or change those to benefits you will need.

2

Increase your policy excess

As with most insurance providers, you can specify how much you’d be willing to pay in the event of making a standard compensation claim. This is called your excess – there’s generally a compulsory and a voluntary excess. The lower your excess, the pricier the premium, so if you can afford to pay more in the event of a claim, the cost of your business insurance premium will come down. It’s important to make sure your excess is affordable for you. If you can’t pay the excess, insurance providers won’t hold up their end of the claim either.

3

Lower your liability risk

Insurance is all about risk, so taking action now to lower your risk profile can really help to reduce your business insurance cost. You can install CCTV and alarms on your business premises and implement risk assessment protocols. Additionally, you can give health and safety training to employees, do quality control procedures and complete professional accreditations.

4

Compare business insurance quotes and never auto-renew

Whether you’re buying for the first time or your premium is up for renewal, don’t settle for the first price you get offered. Always review and compare business insurance quotes online or telephonically to get the best price. Our comparison tool makes it easy to find a great quote for business insurance. If you’re feeling stuck, give us a call. We’d be delighted to help with your business insurance comparison.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need business insurance if I’m self-employed?

If you own a very small business, such as a one-person enterprise, then it’s not a legal requirement. Only business owners with employees legally need insurance (employer’s liability).

However, corporate or small business insurance is a really good investment. If you give advice, provide a service, or handle client data, you could be sued for negligence or a simple mistake. If you work on clients’ properties or premises, you might accidentally break or damage something or hurt someone.

It’s best to speak to insurance experts to ensure your small business is covered from public liability claims prominent in your industry. Plus, if you’re self-employed, you can put your small business insurance on your tax return as an expense.

Do I need business insurance for an online business?

Having business insurance is not a legal requirement for online businesses, unless you employ one or more members of staff. If you have employees, you must purchase employer’s liability insurance. That said, we’d always recommend purchasing business insurance. Whether you’re offering a digital service, online advice, or you have physical stock, it’s worth protecting your livelihood with an insurance policy.

Does my business need to be VAT-registered to get insurance?

No, you can buy business insurance whether you’re a sole trader or a VAT-registered business. You can also compare business insurance quotes and purchase cheap business insurance before you start trading. It can be helpful to have insurance in place when securing new clients and enrolling with professional bodies.

What details will I need to get a personalised quote?

Getting an insurance quote for any range of business types couldn’t be easier than with Quote Goat. You can do it online or over the phone, whichever you’d prefer. We’ll just need a few details:
  • What type of business you own: sole trader, limited company or partnership
  • How long you’ve been trading and other business registration details
  • Whether you have any employees, and if yes, how many
  • Your expected turnover for the next year
  • What environments you work in (e.g. are they high-risk)
  • Details of your business premises
  • Your claims history

Can I get cover for multiple trades under one policy?

Yes, you can. Whether you’re a builder who also does roofing jobs and requires tradesman insurance, a developer who dabbles in copywriting, or a chef who offers gardening on the side, you can tailor your policy to cover exactly what you need, even if they’re totally different trades.

Can I pay for my policy by Direct Debit?

Of course. You can choose whether you pay for your premium in one annual lump sum or every monthly — whichever option suits your business’s cash flow best. Note that paying an annual lump sum can work out cheaper since you’re avoiding monthly interest rates.

Do I need to get business car insurance too?

It’s likely you’ll need business car insurance if you use your car or van to drive between home and client properties or for any other journey concerning your business that isn’t a commute. However, this can usually be added onto your standard car insurance policy without costing too much.

You can usually call your insurance provider and amend your policy or select that you use your vehicle for social, domestic & pleasure (SD&P), as well as business use when getting a new business insurance quote online. If you have a vehicle that’s primarily used for business, i.e. a builder’s van or a taxi, you’ll need to get commercial vehicle insurance or fleet insurance.

What happens if I don’t get insurance?

In the worst-case scenario, if you don’t get insurance for your business and someone makes a claim against you, you will be liable to cover all compensation and legal fees. These costs can quickly run into the hundreds of thousands or even millions. Without business insurance to cover the costs, you, the business owner, would be liable. This can lead the business to cease trading and can even put the business owner into bankruptcy. It’s a nasty business and well worth avoiding by using business insurance quote comparison sites like Quote Goat to buy cover that’s within your budget!

Written By Michael Foote, Insurance & Finance Expert

Michael Foote is the founder of Quote Goat with over 13 years of experience in finance, insurance, and currency sectors. Since launching Quote Goat, he has appeared on TV and in major online publications, including Forbes, The Telegraph, and The Metro. Prior to Quote Goat, he worked for firms such as HSBC.