Commercial insurance put simply, is a general term that covers lots of different types of insurance, including shop insurance, public liability insurance, employers’ liability insurance, and professional indemnity insurance. These types of insurance policies protect you and your business against claims due to losses, injury or damages. Policies can protect you against claims made by employees, customers, and members of the public. It can also be called business insurance.
Commercial insurance policies come in many forms. They can be a package of various types of cover under one policy. Depending on what you do, these can be tailored to suit your business needs based on the types of risk your business faces. Insurance can help you get back up and running quickly or help cover financial losses in situations you’re insured for.
Public Liability Insurance
Public liability insurance can cover you for any claims made against you in which a customer, client or member of the public is injured (or even killed), or has their property damaged as a result of your work.
Public liability insurance is mainly included within most commercial insurance packages, but there are instances where this can be purchased as a stand alone product such as cover for an event you are running. Be aware that Public Liability policies are only valid for incidents that are unexpected and accidental.
Public Liability insurance does not cover your employees. For them you will need:
Employers’ Liability Insurance
Employers’ liability insurance covers the cost of compensating employees who are injured at or become ill through work.
According to the ABI (association of British Insurers), if you are an employer you are legally obliged to have employers’ liability insurance. You can be fined up to £2,500 for every day you do not have appropriate insurance.
Employers’ liability insurance usually covers the cost of compensation and any associated legal fees. Standard Employer’s Liability policies will provide cover for at least £10 million.
More information is available here
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance can also be called Property Owner’s Insurance. Normally this covers the Buildings of a property that you own and rent out, whether it be a shop, office, warehouse, or a shop with flats above.
Buildings insurance covers the repair or rebuild of a business premises for events like a storm, fire, flooding and subsidence. Depending on the policy, they can also cover break-in’s and malicious damage.
Common extensions which are available include fixtures and fittings, landlords contents and loss of rent cover.
Package Insurance
This is designed for a small business owner, whether they be a shop keeper, or own and run an office. The cover can be tailored to suit your needs. It will commonly include the following:
Contents insurance – to cover business contents like goods, stock and equipment if they are lost, stolen or damaged. You’ll need to judge your stock’s value based on the cost price rather than the sale price. If the amount of stock you hold varies, you’ll need to keep your policy updated to ensure everything’s covered. Be aware, though, that insurance providers may charge an admin fee to make amendments to policies.
Loss of rent insurance – to cover your rent for void periods between tenancies if you rent out a commercial property to tenants and they cannot occupy the premises due to it being damaged by an insured peril.
Public Liability Insurance
Employers Liability Insurance
It can also cover, if needed, Buildings Insurance, or, if your lease stipulates it, the glass in the property for which you are responsible.
Commercial Motor insurance
If you own any vehicles in relation to your business, the you will need the minimum Third party cover as required by law. Commercial Motor Insurance policies can cover multiple vehicles on one policy. More information of the different levels of Motor Insurance cover are here.
Professional indemnity insurance
If you offer a service based on knowledge, skills and advice – for example, as an architect, financial advisor, designer engineer, or surveyor, you may need professional indemnity insurance to become a member of a professional body in your chosen industry.
Professional indemnity insurance can cover the costs of a claim (including legal fees) made by a client who has lost money because of your advice or service. Some, professional indemnity policies will also cover you for consequential loss, which is a financial loss experienced by your client because of your negligence or mistake.
Your local Independent Insurance Broker