After the busy festive period, the start of a new year can feel like an opportunity for a fresh start – a chance to take stock of your business, perhaps perform a business health check. Ensuring you’re your business has adequate insurance cover should feature near the top of this list. Whilst it is easy to forget to review your business insurance requirements, if you’re not adequately covered, you could risk damaging your financial health in the event of an uninsured loss.
Below we’ve set out some questions and answers to assist in conducting a business insurance review.
The Compulsory Insurances:
Do you have any employees or more than one director of the business? Do you engage any labour-only subcontractors?
If yes, then you are legally obliged to have employers’ liability insurance.
Do you own, lease or hire any vehicles?
If yes you are legally obliged to set up motor insurance to cover third party damages, as a bare minimum. You can opt to extend this to cover damage to your own vehicle too.
Do your contracts have an insurance or indemnity section?
If so, then legally you will be obliged to meet these obligations. We can discuss with you what the contract requires insurance wise and steer you to the relevant covers.
Will your clients expect you to display that you have insurance?
If yes, then normally they will require proof of public liability and professional indemnity insurance (where relevant).
Will you be tendering for governmental/ council contracts?
If yes, these organisations normally require proof of insurance before you can be considered as a potential contractor. The limits required by councils and government bodies can vary considerably. We can assist you with these insurance requirements, and can even complete the insurance section of the tenders for you.
We are able to provide you with a guide on which equipment types need compulsory inspection under the Health & Safety Regulations, the frequency of these inspections and associated costs.
Non Compulsory insurances:
The insurances that aren’t compulsory, but could save your business when faced with the unexpected:
Do you provide any advice to your clients?
If yes, then we would recommend you obtain professional indemnity insurance to protect you in the event of allegations of mis-advice.
Do you undertake work anywhere with public access or on third party sites?
If so we recommend that you take out public liability insurance to cover you against third party property damage or bodily injury claims.
Have you invested money in tools, fixtures and fittings and contents for your premises or purchased the premises yourself?
If so these again can be protected by adding a property section of your policy.
If you take items out and about with you we would also suggest you cover them on an all risks basis, to protect them outside the premises.
Do you hold stock at your premises?
If so, you can protect your stock against damage under the property section of your business insurance
If you had a fire at your premises, could you carry on trading without the risk of losing your clients?
If not, then please call us and we will guide you through business interruption insurance and loss recovery services. These can protect your income and help you get back on your feet faster following a property claim.
Do you transport any of your goods, either in your own vehicle or using a third party courier?
If so you may want to consider Goods in Transit Cover to protect those items against loss or damage during transportation.
We can also help you source marine cargo insurance if you are transporting goods overseas.
Do you hold any money?
If so, money cover would be recommended to cover it against theft. We can advise you on how much you can hold, and whether or not your insurer requires you to use a cash courier service to transport the money to the bank.
You may also want to consider a Fidelity Guarantee or Employee Dishonesty Policy, which would protect you if any employee stole funds from the company.
Do you transact business online, or hold any personal client data?
If so we would strongly recommend a Cyber Insurance policy that can help you following a data breach or internet hack.
If you are held personally liable for a business decision you make as a director/ owner of the business, could you afford the legal fees, or would your personal assets suddenly be on the line?
You can cover your personal liabilities under a directors and officers or management liability policy.
Do you travel overseas for work, or do any of your employees?
If yes, then we would suggest you consider Travel Insurance to cover unexpected medical bills and/or any other associated cost.
For more information, or to request an insurance review and no obligation quotation, please contact our Director of Insurance, Richard Gorst:
