When looking for commercial property insurance you may wish to consider:

• protection for the interior and exterior of the shop against threats such as fire and flood. Your shop may be out of business for many weeks while repairs and a clean up are made due to either of these events, for example. If you add up the lost revenue it might be thousands of pounds. You also have to factor in how much it costs for repairs and replacements of shop fittings and fixtures;

• hopefully your shop sees many customers walking through the doors each and every day. While this is great for business the downside is that with each individual there is the risk of accident or injury. Any customer that suffers an accident on or around your premises may wish to take you to court. Legal costs may add up to a large sum of money that you may struggle to find. In some cases it may mean the end of your business if you have to sell to meet legal costs;

• accidental damage to your stock, fittings and fixtures may occur. In some cases over the year you may stand to lose a great deal of money this way. Shop insurance may provide compensation for losses and with some business insurance providers this may include any loss as the result of vandalism.

As you may see from the above, shop insurance may be a lifeline if the worse happens. An insurance policy may provide protection against many events, and these may vary among commercial shop insurance providers. Therefore it may pay to check out the small print and compare shop insurance policies online before you purchase.

• bear in mind that insurance can be offered based on your particular business. For insurance there is retail insurance, tradesman insurance, shop insurance etc – virtually for just about any type of business you might think of;

• when looking for insurance you might want to ensure that you have adequate third party liability insurance within the business cover. This is needed to protect you and your business against claims brought about through a third party getting injured on your premises. The same applies if you have members of staff working for you. Claims may arise if they were to get hurt at work. Employers’ liability insurance is mandatory for most employers;

• flood and fire may damage or even destroy your stock on the premises. If you suffered a fire you may end up losing all of your stock and fittings and fixtures in the premises. This may add up to a considerable amount of money. Small business insurance typically protects against a loss such as this, up to set limits;

• the above may also damage the building in which you house your business and it may have to shut down for refurbishment. If this happens you stand to lose not only the costs of repairs to the shell of the building but also loss of customers, unless you have cover in place;

• finally when considering small business insurance you may wish to check out the terms and conditions that come with the insurance policy. This is where you are able to find out what the business cover entails, doesn’t entail and any obligations that may form part of the contract between you and the insurance provider.

Protection for the premises

Without your business premises you do not have a business. With this in mind you may wish to give some thought to:

• fire damage to the building;

• water damage due to burst pipes;

• flooding due to inclement weather;

• damage to the premises caused by vandalism;

• breakage of glass windows.

Any of the above may affect your business. In some cases your business may have to close down for some time and this might lead to a severe loss of earnings. Cafe insurance may provide protection against the above and more.

Protection for the interior

Just as important as the exterior of your business premises is the interior. This typically includes the fittings and fixtures within your business and the stock, but will vary among the different business insurance providers, so always check the small print. You may wish to consider how the following might affect your business;

• damage or destruction of the fittings and fixtures inside your cafe. For instance fire or water damage to the flooring, tables and chairs, along with the kitchen equipment;

• third party claims that may arise from members of the public being injured or even killed while on your premises as the result of your fault. Legal costs may be astronomical and in some cases might close your business for good;

• third party claims from staff members who suffer injury due to a fault of your premises.

Cafe insurance may provide protection for the above, depending on the policy taken out. When considering a business insurance policy, do bear in mind that cover typically differs between insurance providers and the level of protection taken.

The many risks

As a business owner you are typically at risk from many areas. Examples of these include:

• damage to the contents or shell of the building you hold your business in;

• events such as fire and flooding.

These are just the more common risks associated with a business and some of the things that may be included in a standard business insurance policy. Of course, as with any type of insurance, what you actually get in the policy depends on the insurance provider, the type of business you are insuring, and the level of insurance you choose to take out.

Public liability insurance

Bear in mind that if you run a business that involves the public coming into your shop or premises, then public liability insurance has to be considered. Imagine the costs that may be involved if a member of the public were to slip on the floor on your premises. The legal costs might add up to thousands of pounds and if you do not have insurance behind you, this money has to come out of your livelihood. In the worse case, it may even mean that you have to sell your business to come up with the money.

Employers’ liability insurance may also be legally required if you employ staff in the workplace. This typically works on the same principle. If a member of staff were to suffer an injury or death whilst on your premises legal costs may mount up. With this in mind when looking for business insurance you may wish to check whether you have both public liability insurance and employers’ liability insurance included, and if so how much.

The normal risks and perils faced by any business are many and varied. For instance, the business will own property which it would be prudent to insure, otherwise any loss or damage to what it owns will need to be made good from its own funds. Equally important, however, is protection against those actions and omissions for which the business can be held liable – by clients, customers and members of the public – and thus face the need to compensate any victims.

Fortunately, there are many business insurance products on the market and enough of them to cover practically any risk. Although it might be stating the obvious, however, simply because an insurance product designed to cover a particular risk exists, it does not mean that every business will need to arrange that particular cover. An important first step for any business starting up, therefore, is a dispassionate assessment of the risks it is likely to face and evaluation of the various products on offer. Clearly, this is the stage at which the services of an independent, professional insurance adviser could well pay dividends.

Many items on the list of insurable risks will be common to almost all businesses. Some items of business insurance will be legally required; others will depend on the nature of the business, its size and the assessment of the risks involved.

An insurance need likely to be common to all businesses is the insurance covering the premises it occupies and the contents of those premises. The insurance of the building itself – against the standard risks of fire, flooding, vandalism and malicious damage, for example – will also reflect whether the premises are owned by the business, rented from a landlord or operated from the owner’s own home.

Another form of business insurance likely to be a prime consideration for almost every business is public liability insurance. Although it is not a legal requirement, many clients and customers might insist on such cover being held before agreeing to do business, since it provides protection against potentially crippling claims of liability for loss, damage, injury or death sustained by clients, customers or members of the public either on the business premises or as a result of some action or omission on the part of business activity elsewhere.

If the business has employees, it is typically legally required to hold a minimum of £5 million employers’ liability cover against claims from employees who have been injured or contracted illnesses through some fault of the business whilst at work.

Business insurance might also extend to professional indemnity insurance if the undertaking is in the business of providing services based on specialist skills or knowledge – accountants, solicitors, financial advisers, architects and surveyors, for example. Indeed, the relevant professional bodies, responsible for the recognition and registration of such professionals, are likely to insist on such insurance being in place in order for the firm or individual to be in business.