Limited company insurance

Limited company insurance can cover almost any type of risk, protecting your business from loss caused by accidents, errors, omissions, theft, loss, fire, flood and more. Typical cover includes protection from:

• Employee claims for injury or sickness caused by working for your business
• General public, client, and supplier claims for injury or sickness caused by the products or services you provide
• Loss of equipment, tools, plant and machinery
• Vehicle loss
• Claims from providing incorrect information and advice
• Defamation and libel claims
• Cyber attack
• Business interruption through events beyond your control
• Loss of personal property through providing a personal guarantee for debt
• Supply chain breakdown

Because problems can come from any direction, most companies will protect themselves with an array of insurances, including:

Public liability insurance

Public liability insurance protects your business if someone is injured, or their property is damaged because of the services that you or your business provides. This type of cover, also known as PL or liability insurance, is designed to protect your business against third party claims for injuries or property damage from a customer or client, passer-by, or a visitor to your business premises – whether you’re at fault or not.

Employers’ liability insurance

Employers’ Liability (EL) Insurance is a legal requirement for most UK employers. EL protects you and your employees, (including those who no longer work for you), should they be injured or become unwell as a result of working for your business. EL typically covers the associated legal and compensation costs, and other damages of such events, but it can also cover accidental injury or damages caused by an employee to a third party, like your customers.

Professional indemnity insurance

Professional indemnity insurance, also known as professional liability insurance, is an essential type of cover for individuals and businesses that advise clients, help them navigate complex financial or legal affairs, or provide them with vital information that is published in the media. In these kind of cases, errors can cost thousands or even millions in legal compensation claims. Professional indemnity (PI) can protect you if a client makes a financial loss because of your work and then makes claim against you or your business. Trade associations, government bodies, public institutions, and major customers will often require proof of a minimum level of PI insurance before doing business with you.

Personal accident insurance

Personal accident insurance covers anyone named on the policy for accidental injury or death at or outside of work. This typically includes loss of income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefits.

Contents and office equipment insurance

Business Contents Insurance covers the insured for the loss, damage, and theft of the contents of their business premises, including office equipment, stock and inventory.

Top tip: If you’re a landlord, contents cover will be your tenant’s responsibility. However, depending on the lease/rent agreement you may have supplied furniture or appliances that belong to you. In which case, Landlord’s Commercial Insurance can be used to protect your provided contents from loss, damage or theft caused by the tenant or a third party.

Tools insurance

Tools Insurance, also known as portable equipment cover, or business equipment insurance, covers the cost of replacing business tools and equipment if they’re lost, damaged, or stolen. Items that are typically covered include:

• Handheld tools (hammers, screwdrivers, saws, pliers)
• Power tools (drills, sanders, angle grinders, nail guns)
• Plant equipment (excavators, rollers, diggers, dump trucks)
• Owned, loaned, leased or hire-purchased/leased tools

Stock insurance

Stock insurance, also known as inventory insurance, protects your work materials, such as piping and timber, and the items you are planning to sell – for example the contents of your shop – in the event they are stolen or damaged/destroyed by fire, flood or accident. 

Building insurance

Any building that is occupied by a business is classed as commercial property. Shops, offices, pubs, salons, restaurants, showrooms, cinemas, and clinics are examples of commercial property. 

Commercial property insurance, also known as building insurance, is designed to protect the owners of commercial buildings from a financial loss resulting from damage to or the total destruction of the property and/or whatever was inside.

Owned plant insurance

Designed for tradespeople, owned plant insurance protects the specialist equipment you own and use in your business. For example:

• Trailers
• Cement mixers 
• Portable tools – saws, drills, step ladders, etc
• Site huts
• Light and heavy machinery, such as a lathe, table saw, crane or bulldozer

This cover may also provide limited protection for loss of stock in trade, such as piping, flooring, electrical equipment and timber that you have purchased but not yet used to complete a project.

Hired-in plant insurance

Protects equipment that you may have hired and that is not covered by the lessor’s insurance. For example:

• Rented caravans
• Rented site huts and cabins
• Light and heavy machinery, such as diggers, cranes and scrapers

Legal expenses insurance

The legal costs involved in complex business disputes or large compensation claims can often run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds – sometimes costing more than the eventual financial award or penalty. Legal expenses insurance can cover the legal costs of litigation, arbitration, and expert legal advice connected to your company and the things you do or sell.