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About Business Insurance

Accidents are always bound to happen. There is no way to know when they are coming or how damaging they can be. This is true for every-day life and when it comes to your business. Something may happen that can severely hamper the way in which your business operates. Again there's no way of knowing what is waiting around the corner or what the effects will be. What you can do however is be prepared for whatever life throws at you and your business. The best way to do this is through Business Insurance.

What is Business Insurance?

Business Insurance broken down, is a means of protecting your business from any losses suffered in the course of their normal activities.

These losses can be from a multitude of places, ranging from claims made from your own employees, to a sudden and unexpected incident resulting in a lack of trading.

Whatever the reason, Business Insurance, can have you covered in your time of need. This will all be explored later on, in our What Type Of Business Insurance Is Right For Me? section, which will help you determine which type of Business Insurance you require.

You don't even have to have started trading to get covered, however If you require a trade license to operate and start trading without it, your insurance may be invalidated, so this is something to keep in mind.

Do I Have To Have Business Insurance?

Yes and no.

Depending on how your business operates, you will be required by law to have certain types of Business Insurance.

For example, if you employ people within your business, you are required by law to have Employers Liability Insurance at the very minimum.

The same goes for Public Liability Insurance, if you work with members of the public. Failing to have either of these insurances when you operate within these industries can result in a heavy fine.

If you have no employees and do not deal with members of the public, then there is no legal requirement for you to have any form of Business Insurance. However some regulatory bodies will not allow your business to operate without certain cover.

Nevertheless if things were to take a turn for the worst and you weren't covered, it could end up costing you much more than the cost of Business Insurance.

What Type Of Business Insurance Is Right For Me?

As mentioned, there are numerous types of Business Insurance, available to you. What type of business you operate will depend on what type of insurance you'll be looking for. Below we've broken down the types available, to help you decided exactly what type of insurance best suits you and your business.

Employers Liability Insurance

Mentioned earlier Employers Liability Insurance is a legal requirement for any business that has employees. If you operate without this and have employees you can be faced with a substantial fine. This includes contractors, casual or temporary staff.

This type of insurance is designed to protect both your business and employees and covers any claims from your employees that were injured or became seriously ill as a result of working for you.

For example, you own a construction business and one of your employees has an accident on site that prevents them from working for 6 months. Employers Liability Insurance will cover any costs involved if you were at fault for this.

It is recommended that you have at least £5 million worth of Employers Liability Insurance.

Public Liability Insurance

Another one mentioned earlier, Public Liability Insurance, is a legal requirement if your business interacts with the public in anyway. Like Employers Liability Insurance not having this when required can result in receiving a hefty fine.

This insurance covers you against:

1. Property damage made to a third party.
2. Bodily injury.

Say you own a removals company and when relocating your customers couch you end up damaging the door frame, or even worse, you drop it on your customer's foot resulting in injury. Public Liability Insurance will cover any of the costs resulting from this, should it be deemed that your business is responsible for the claim.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

If your business provides any form of a service to others, although not a legally required, Professional Indemnity Insurance, is arguably essential.

This will protect you against any claims of negligence or against a claim that a client has raised against your business that has resulted in either a loss of their revenue or damage to their reputation.

So you own a consulting firm dealing with events. You advise a client that the way to attract more people to their events would be to hire a bouncy castle. When this happens however, there's an issue with the bouncy castle, resulting in injuries towards the guests and damage to your clients name.

Personal Indemnity Insurance will cover any legal costs that follow this should you be held responsible for the claim.

Product Liability Insurance

Again, not a legal requirement to have, but definitely an asset if you're a wholesaler, manufacturer or a retailer selling products.

All businesses have a duty of care to ensure that any product they either manufacture or sell, is fit for purpose, safe and reliable.

You manufacture u-bend pipes designed specifically for sinks. The latest batch however have been malfunctioning and causing water damage to the homes they're installed in.

Product Liability Insurance protects against any claims that lead to either personal injury or property damage. In this case, any claims against your company due to the faulty product will be covered.

Business Interruption Insurance

Business Interruption Insurance covers any unforeseen issues that may result in either a substantial loss of income or the complete halting of business activities.

These include:

• Building damage.
• Failure of utilities.
• Supplier failure.
• Customer failure.
• Infectious diseases.

You come to work one day to find that your building has perished in a fire resulting in a complete ceasing of trade.

This will be absolutely devastating to any business regardless of size. If you're covered with Business Interruption

Insurance, then this will be able to prop you up financially until the issue is resolved.

How Much Will It Cost?

Due to the differing nature of business, unfortunately there is no single answer to this question. Skyscraper window cleaning is inherently a much more dangerous job than telesales, and as you would expect, insurance premiums will differ significantly between the two.

The type of insurance that you are interested in will also play a factor in the cost, as well as the size of your business and the amount of excess that you would like to include.

Your profession/ trade, annual turnover and the number of employees that you have will also have an impact on your final cost.

In a nutshell, there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to Business Insurance.

How Can My Business Get Insured?

Hopefully that's cleared up some questions that you may have regarding Business Insurance. Now the last one you most likely have, is "how can I get covered"? Well the process couldn't be simpler; all you have to do is click the "Start FREE QUOTE" button to start comparing prices. This is an absolutely free service and there's no obligation to buy, so click the button, follow the prompts and get comparing now.