Insurance for Small Businesses & the Self-Employed
Keeping Your Business Covered
Small business insurance can help protect you from various claims and incidents, including those from third parties as well as if your equipment or stock is damaged in any way. Small businesses and the self-employed typically rely more heavily on cash flow than their larger business counterparts, meaning that losses incurred from being uninsured will hit harder than for most.
Do Small Businesses Need Special Insurance?
Small businesses don’t require any special kind of insurance; the only statutory requirement is to have employers’ liability insurance to cover your staff. We’d also suggest getting public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance too, however. We’ve broken down these insurance types in more detail below:
Employers’ liability (EL) insurance
A legal requirement under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, this cover protects a small business owner if one of your employees suffers injury or illness; this applies whether they’re on or off-duty.
Professional indemnity (PI) insurance
PI covers a small business (or self-employed professional) if services or products provided by the business lead to financial or reputational losses for a client or third party.
Public liability insurance
If you or your small business interacts with third parties (on even an occasional basis) then it’s worth taking out a public liability insurance policy. This offers financial protection if your business or its activities cause illness, an accident or damage to a property.
There are other business insurance policies you can consider, too. If your small business is specialised in high-tech digital technology, for instance, and your business premises houses a lot of expensive equipment, then you might want to think about a business contents insurance policy.
Similarly, it might be worth looking at business interruption insurance in order to recoup income losses if a weather event or other unforeseen circumstance forces you to stop trading for a time.
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How Much Cover Do I Need?
The amount of insurance cover you’ll need as a small business or self-employed sole trader depends on various factors. These include everything from the number of employees you have (if you’re a business) through to the level (and frequency) of interaction you have with third parties, such as clients or members of the public.
If your business (or you as a sole trader) wishes to join a trade association, you’ll typically need a minimum of £2 million public liability insurance. Similarly, if you employ any staff members, no matter whether it’s on a part-time or casual basis, then legally you need to have employers’ liability insurance. To help establish what level of cover is right for you or your business, get in touch with one of our specialist brokers today.
How Much Will Insurance Cost?
Insurance premiums for the self-employed and small businesses are typically lower than for larger businesses, however, there’s no one set figure for how much it will cost you because there are too many variables that affect each and every policy, meaning that your insurance policy will be unique to you, and that uniqueness will be reflected in the price of the premium.
Taking the Strain Off Small Businesses and the Self-Employed
If you’re self-employed (or run a small business) then you’ll know just how frantic, stressful and busy it is trying to operate successfully. Unlike larger companies which usually have dedicated departments for particular areas, you’re usually left to do everything yourself. It’s time-consuming, tedious, and can lead to mistakes when you’re stretched from pillar to post. With the help of the team at Insurance by Simply, however, it doesn’t have to be that way.
We take the strain away from busy self-employed professionals and small businesses, securing you the best possible business insurance policies so that you can focus on the areas that most need your attention. With an experienced team of brokers behind us, we’re dedicated to sourcing you the policy that best suits you.
Why Choose Insurance by Simply?
Aside from saving you time, one of the reasons to utilise a broker such as ours is that you’re likely to find a better deal on your business insurance policy. We work with general insurance companies, Lloyds London insurers, as well as specialist niche insurers in order to always find the best possible insurance policy for you and your business. We can work with you, tailoring a personalised insurance policy, rather than just a conventional, generic insurance policy that you might find with larger commercial brokers.