What doesn’t it cover?
Business fire insurance does not usually cover personal possessions belonging to you or your employees, so check with your provider if this aspect is going to be of concern.

Apart from physical possessions, have you considered the profit you would lose in the aftermath of a fire? Even if you have adequate fire cover for your premises and contents, you will not be able to trade while you are getting yourself back on your feet and trying to replace missing or damaged premises and equipment. This loss of profit is something that is often overlooked. Business interruption insurance covers exactly this scenario. However, it is not standard on all policies, so check with your provider whether it is available as an extra.

How much will it cost?

The premium depends on how many employees you have, and what kind of business you run. Some businesses are a greater fire risk than others. For example, using dangerous or volatile petrochemicals would be a high risk business.

How can you bring down the cost?

Bringing down the cost for your fire cover is often relatively straightforward. As with all insurance cover, the provider assesses the risk involved in offering you cover and decides on a price that is linked to this level of risk. The riskier the customer, the more expensive the cover. So to bring down the cost of your policy, you need to bring down your business’ fire risk. This may include making physical alterations to your business premises like installing extra fire doors and extinguishers. However, you also need to consider how your staff would deal with a fire. Have they been adequately trained? Improving staff training can help to make them better prepared to avoid or deal with a fire.

Are you already protected?

Before you take out business fire insurance, check your existing policies. Perhaps your contents and buildings cover already includes fire cover. If so, check that it is for a sufficient amount.

What is included?
Fleet policies cover similar kinds of loss and damage as the standard motor insurance you have for your personal car or motorcycle. For example, damage caused by theft or falling trees would be covered, as would any damage you or your staff cause to third parties. Fire damage is usually a standard inclusions.

Some insurers will include a breakdown cover as standard. However, while this may sound like an excellent benefit, it might be worth shopping around to see whether buying business fleet insurance and breakdown cover separately would be more cost effective. You may also find that the breakdown cover offered by a specialised provider is more comprehensive.

How do you decide between policies?

If the quotes you receive for fleet cover are similar, there are a number of ways to distinguish between them. For example, you might consider what level of service each provider offers. This is especially important for fleet cover for delivery vehicles, as accidents do not just happen within business hours and you may need to contact your insurer outside of the normal 9 till 5.

Also, you should compare the levels of the excesses offered by each provider. Generally, the higher the excess, the cheaper the policy will be. This is because the insurer is statistically less likely to have to pay out for smaller claims. However, you need to weigh up what the largest amount of loss would be that you could fund from your own pocket.

How can you bring down the cost?

When insurers assess how much to charge for business fleet cover, they will use the same or similar criteria to decide the price as they do for domestic motor insurance providers. For example, they will look at where the vehicles are kept when they are not in use. If you keep your vehicles in a secure lock-up, your premium may be cheaper than it would have been if your vehicles were kept on the roadside at night. The risks of theft and vandalism are much smaller if vehicles are out of reach of criminals.

Likewise, it might be worthwhile to put employees who drive company vehicles regularly on a safe drivers’ course. Such courses can reduce the risk of accidents by improving people’s driving skills, and can sometimes have the additional benefit of bringing down premiums for business fleet insurance with some providers.

The ingredients

• Public liability insurance

This kind of cover relates to claims made from third parties, arising from the contact your business has with the public. So someone could sue you for personal injury, or damage to their property. The claimant does not necessarily have to have been a customer. For instance, a visiting supplier who slips on your wet showroom floor could make a claim for personal injury. The damages award can easily run into tens of thousands of pounds, which is why public liability insurance should be considered seriously by all businesses.

• Employers’ liability insurance cover

Most employers are obliged by law to have adequate employers’ liability insurance. Ask your insurance provider whether your business falls into one of the few exemptions to this requirement. This cover relates to claims for accidents or illnesses that your employees could have sustained as a result of being in your employment. Examples may include repetitive strain injury and accidents in the workplace. As with public liability cover, the claims can be very high in value.

• Contents cover

You may have a warehouse or shop full of valuable stock, in which case the need for adequate contents cover will be easily apparent. But if you provide professional services with nothing tangible to make or sell, you will still have valuable contents sitting in your business premises that would be expensive to replace after a fire or flood. For example, most businesses rely heavily on computer systems, and have lots of office furniture.

• Buildings insurance

If you rent your buildings premises, the landlord is likely to be responsible for the insurance. However, if you own the building, insuring it is down to you.

• Business interruption insurance

If you business is interrupted due to an insured risk (e.g. fire), this cover can replace lost profits. This aspect of cover is not always provided as a standard part of business commercial insurance in the UK. Ask your provider whether it is available to you.

What service will you receive?

When you have a number of quotes to compare, check the level of service you will receive. For example, are the staff experienced in helping you find the right cover? How many hours a day are they available – is there a 24 hour claims line?

The price

The price of business commercial insurance UK cover is usually based on a combination of the level of turnover your business enjoys, coupled with how risky it is. When you are comparing prices, consider also whether you are permitted to spread the cost by monthly direct debits, or whether the policy has an unrealistically high excess. After all, there is no point having a cheap policy if you have to incur thousands of pounds worth of loss yourself before you can claim.

What is covered?
The various insurers each provide a “menu” of illnesses and diseases they cover. Standard inclusions typically may include cancer and heart disease. Health insurance usually covers just the treatment itself, which includes the initial appointment, referrals to consultants and any courses of drugs or operations needed. Some providers offer an income for the insured person while they are unable to work, although these are costly options and not commonplace.

What is not covered?
Perhaps the most important list to study is the list of what is not typically included. Examples include:

• Pregnancy and childbirth
• Complementary therapy – Although recognition of complementary therapies is growing, they are not always included as part of the treatment offered by mainstream health insurance providers.
• Chronic and pre-existing conditions
• Cosmetic surgery
• Dental care -Dental care is rarely available as standard. However, some providers offer a dental plan as an additional extra.
• Eye care and difficulty with eyesight – This is not usually included on the standard list, but some providers may offer the services of an optician for an extra charge.

Other issues to consider
There may be tax implications for both you and the employee to consider as a result of providing health cover. Consult your local Revenue and Customs office for advice before you implement a scheme.

Consider also how the insurance schemes are administered. Your employees will not feel that the cover is a real benefit if they find it difficult to access. Some providers offer a dedicated assistant for your staff to contact direct, so you do not have to be involved in the process.

Finally, when you are taking out a business health insurance policy, do not forget that your business is paying for the scheme, rather than the person who benefits from the cover. This is important when you are comparing quotes, and considering what level of excess to choose. Normally, a high excess results in a cheaper premium. However, in this case it will be your business that has to bear the cost of any treatment falling below the excess threshold, so a smaller excess may be more cost effective.

Sadly, running a business isn’t just about bringing the money in and keeping your customers happy. There is the ‘back room’ work that can be as varied as book keeping and accounting to staffing and stationery supplies. One of these activities is ensuring that you have the necessary protection in place should something go wrong.
There are different types of risk management insurance available for businesses and contractors, all which can help minimise any financial loss as well as personal stress if a claim is made against you. This article looks at public liability insurance.

What does public liability cover do?
In a nutshell, this cover protects you against third party claims made against you and your business for accident and injury. So, say a visitor to your business premises (whether they are a client, a supplier or someone who just happens to be there, maybe the gas meter man for example) slips on split coffee and breaks a leg. They will often seek recompense from you for things that have been affected by them having a broken leg, such as time off work; pain; hospital costs etc.

The costs for something like this, with legal fees, could be crippling for your company. In fact, many small businesses would go under when faced with a claim against them for damages or negligence. Public liability cover could help take away the stress and provide financial assistance with legal and compensation costs.

Where to buy your cover
Getting your insurance can be quick and easy if you go to a specialist provider. Using an independent provider of liability insurance may help to give you access to the right deal, rather than getting your policy via traditional methods such as your bank, who may only be able to offer you one type of cover and at one price. Independent providers sometimes have a pool of policies that means you have a choice of cover – and price.

How much cover?
The sum insured is of great importance. You may find that public liability insurance will come as standard with your business insurance policy and will have a set limit. Check that the amount is right for your needs.

Also consider that, depending on what sector your business is within, some of your clients may insist that you have a minimum sum insured in order to provide them a service, so do check.

Before you buy your insurance, do double check that the policy gives you everything you need – look at the sum insured; excesses; policy exclusions; and how long the insurance must be in force for before you are entitled to make a claim.

Finally, to protect yourself and your livelihood does not have to be a time consuming exercise. A specialist provider of public liability insurance can find you the right solution for your business. Financial collapse caused by a claim against your company is a worry that all business owners face. But you can have peace of mind with this type of cover.

If for example you were to lose the majority or even all of your stock it could total up to thousands of pounds. Alcohol is expensive and if your pub is also a restaurant then you could also lose many pounds worth of food. If you did not have the assurance of an insurance policy to fall back onto where would you get the money to replace your stock so that you would be able to trade? With insurance you could claim on your policy and just have the excess to pay out towards meeting the claim. The excess can vary and while it could be a substantial amount it would be nothing in comparison to the total amount it could cost for you to replace everything.

Whether you have just a couple of bar staff on your team or you have several and kitchen staff as well you would need insurance for liability. This type of insurance would allow you to make a claim if one of your staff members were to get hurt in anyway whilst at work. If you did not have this to rely on then again any claim through court for compensation would have to be paid by you out of your own pocket and court and solicitors costs can all add up to quite a lot.

Liability in your insurance policy would also pay out if any member of the public were to suffer injury or be hurt in any way on your premises or as a result of food / drink served by you or an employee. They would be able to claim on your insurance and your insurance provider would payout. When considering liability insurance you would have to check how much the policy would pay up to as this can differ with all insurance providers. It can also help to determine how much you would have to pay each month with the more the cover would payout the dearer the insurance premiums would be.

With any pub cover you were considering taking out you would have to check the small print as this is where you can find the limits and exclusions that would apply in your policy. These would vary depending on the provider with some adding in more than others into the small print.

What does business computer usually cover?

• The equipment itself
  The policy should relate to the equipment itself, but is likely to exclude damage due to poor maintenance and accidental damage. Insurers are more likely to pay out for the theft of a computer than for damage caused by your negligence in not maintaining it or dropping it!
• The information stored in the computer
  Often, it is not the equipment itself but the information that is stored inside it that is valuable to you as a business owner. Check whether your policy includes this, and also whether it requires you to have a certain level of back up in place, in order to minimise the risk of losing valuable data.
• NOT viruses or malicious actions of third parties
  Hackers and virus writers are unpredictable by their very nature, so most commercial insurers are reluctant to cover loss suffered as a result of their actions. Most people have internet security programmes and firewalls, but even these can be penetrated by the most sophisticated of hackers.

Cover could relate to one office, or to a chain of offices across multiple sites. Check with your provider to see what is available.

Portable equipment
Laptops are taken to many different locations. But make sure that your business computer insurance policy covers the laptop when it is outside the office. Given that laptops are such easy targets for thieves, make sure that you and your employees comply with any security requirements the insurer sets, for example, placing the laptop in a secure area at night.

Are my computers already covered anyway?
Some business owners might overlook the requirement for separate business computer insurance, assuming that their information technology and telecommunications equipment is already covered under their contents policy. However, it is worth getting out the schedule and drawing up an inventory against what you actually have. Does the value of the computers exceed the single item exceptions (where the insurer refuses to include single items above a certain value on the policy)? Are computers excluded anyway because they are so easy for thieves to steal? Check these points before you need to make a claim.

You are liable for the safety of anyone who comes into your place of business. As soon as they step through the door you can be held liable if they should slip, trip or fall. You have probably seen adverts on the TV which proclaim to get you 100% compensation and it could be you and your business that they are claiming from next. In the event of a claim, if you do not have anything to fall back onto such as liability cover then you could be taken to court and it could come down to you having to sell your business if you cannot find the money to pay. With public liability insurance the insurance provider would pay up to so much so you do have to check this amount when you apply for the cover.

The amount that you would be eligible to claim back from your policy would go towards how much you would pay for your insurance so it is essential that you do not take out too much liability cover but have just enough. If you have a large business that brings in many customers each day then you are at greater risk of someone suffering a trip or fall and this makes liability cover all the more important.

The type of business you have would also go towards determining how much you would have to pay for the cover. For instance if you have a business that involves renting out go-karts then your insurance premiums would be higher than if you had a small home run business for trimming hair. You should look for your insurance with a specialist provider who would be able to offer you tailored public liability insurance based on your business needs. There should be no one policy fits all needs as every business is different in its needs and the insurance that is needed. Whatever policy you are considering taking out would have to be checked over very carefully so that you can see what it offers for your business and the cover that it provides. You might not want pay out for a public liability insurance policy that would pay out millions of pounds if a claim had to be made as this would of course cost more.

Financial prudence
Consider what would happen if a fire should wreak havoc through your business premises. Perhaps you run a manufacturing business, and the raw materials have gone up in smoke. Or maybe you have a shop, and your stock is three feet deep in water after a flash flood. Once you get over the initial shock of finding your business in that situation, how would you pay for the missing or damaged items?

Notwithstanding the interruption to your business caused by stopping to clean up the mess caused by the disaster, most businesses do not have the spare cash to replace lost stock or equipment from their own pockets. This is particularly true in a challenging economic environment. If you have adequate business contents insurance, on the other hand, it would typically pay out in these circumstances, meaning that your business could be up and running in no time.

The risks covered will not just typically include fire and flood. Insurers may cover loss caused by theft, storm, lightning, earthquakes, riot and civil commotion.
Accidental damage is not usually standard, but may often be an optional extra.

When you sit down to make an inventory of all the items you would like to cover, you will soon appreciate the value of the assets your business has. Having a clear schedule of your property will assist the insurance provider, and clarify exactly what is and is not covered by the policy.

Peace of mind
Apart from providing financial security, having adequate business contents insurance in place will give you peace of mind, and enable you to get on with running your business without worrying about what might happen.

What’s covered?
Small business insurance may cover a lot of the main areas where your business could be/become financially vulnerable. Among other things, it can often protect against:

• Claims for compensation or damages due to the failure or negligence of your company
• Disputes related to employee/employer issues
• Law suits/claims brought against your company related to work damages
• Damage of office space by fire, flooding or other natural disaster
• Protection of your office equipment from accidents and damage
• Damage to inventory and stock

Any business entity can typically apply for insurance for their small business. The best thing to do is to think about the ways that your company might be vulnerable, identify your insurance needs and then find insurance that matches those needs. The fact of the matter is that no-one else will know which type of insurance and how much cover is necessary for your company but you. When you are researching and looking for insurance, you will most likely have quite a few options. Resources such as the Internet give you the freedom to compare each of the policies you find to the needs of your business.

Signing up for business insurance

Businesses can sign up for small business insurance these days online without ever having a face-to-face with an insurance agent. In some cases, using a small business insurance specialist website can provide details of the some of the cover available for you. If you decide to take the cover, you will most likely be required to provide business registration information and you may have to mail or fax copies of official documents as well.