Business insurance protects you against the everyday risks that come with your normal business activities. Insurance can cover you against mistakes, accidents, theft, damage and legal fees. The exact cover you need depends on the business you run and how you run it.

There are different types of insurance that you may need to consider. What you need will depend on the type of business you have.

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance is a fundamental type of business insurance. This is particularly  true if you have visitors to your premises or visit client sites. It can cover legal expenses or compensation claims if clients, suppliers, or members of the public suffer personal injury or property damage because of your business.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Getting professional indemnity insurance is important if you give advice, provide a professional service to clients. It is also important to have if you handle other people's data or intellectual property. It's for situations where a client loses money because you provide negligent advice, services or designs.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

Business growth often starts with new employees, but this added responsibility will carry added risks. If you employ people, employers’ liability insurance will almost always be a legal requirement. In the case of temporary workers, you will still need to make sure that you have the correct employers' liability cover.

Business Buildings Insurance

Whether you work from home or have separate business premises such as a shop, factory, office, or pub, business building insurance should be a priority. If you rent the premises, make sure to check with your landlord to see what’s already covered. This will avoid duplication and unnecessary cost.  

Business Contents Insurance

This protects the contents of your business premises; your business equipment, tools and any other items that the business uses.  If these are damaged, destroyed, lost or stolen, this cover will pay the cost of replacements or repairs. This can include your stock but this can also be insured separately.

Product Liability Insurance

Product liability insurance protects you should a customer suffer damage as a result of a faulty product you provide. You may be held liable for damage even if you didn’t manufacture the product.

Personal Accident Insurance

Personal accident insurance covers serious injury or death caused by an accident. It can pay out for lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation, up to the limit of the policy.

Business Interruption Insurance

If your business is disrupted by material damage caused by an event such as a flood or fire, business interruption insurance provides you with the financial cover you need to get back on your feet. For example, if a flood destroyed the contents of your business premises, this insurance would cover loss of revenue, as long as your contents are also insured.

Business Legal Protection Insurance

Business legal protection insurance is also known as business legal expenses insurance. It covers commercial legal expenses and provides protection against the potential costs of legal action, brought by or against your business.

To summarise

Make sure you are clear about what type of insurance your business needs to have, and check the terms of the policy carefully.

Not all insurance policies cover the same things (regardless of the title of the policy). Before committing, ensure that you are getting the right level of protection for your business. You may want to speak to a specialist regulated insurance broker. If you are a member of a business trade association or body, then it is often good to see if they do specialist group policies for their members. This could save you money.

The best way to find out what is on offer and to decide which insurance provider to choose is to research online and ask other businesses. There are a lot of providers out there and some will be better than others. Effective research will be worthwhile.