Top ten things you may need to know about public liability insurance

While public liability insurance is not generally a legal requirement (though there are some exceptions), doing without it as part of your business insurance protection portfolio may not be a sensible idea.

Here are ten things you may need to bear in mind when considering public liability cover:

1. if you do not have public liability insurance, you may find that certain organisations may not wish to use your services (for example, local authorities);
2. those that do require you to have public liability cover may have minimum set limits which you need to be covered for;
3. some customers make take comfort from the fact that you have some form of liability insurance in place;
4. if someone makes a claim against you, the cost of expenses and legal fees may typically be included for both defending you and paying out compensation if you are found to be at fault – with court awards sometimes running in to thousands, this type of claim could wipe out a small business if they don’t have insurance in place;
5. public liability typically only covers third party damages – it does not include injuries to employees;
6. damages claimed by employees are dealt with through employers’ liability insurance, which is a legal requirement for most businesses (exceptions apply);
7. if a claim is made against your business, the only costs you may typically have to find, will be the liability insurance excess amount – this will be outlined in your policy documentation;
8. public liability insurance can be purchased from a number of business insurance providers such as http://endsleigh.co.uk, offering typical upper claim limits up to £1, £2m or £5m depending on your needs;
9. public liability cover can cover a variety of businesses from small shops and specialised trades people to language schools and websites designers to large corporations and supermarkets – just about any business whether small or large;
10. with some policies, you can extend the public liability cover to include things such as tools and equipment, personal accident cover, employers’ liability insurance and legal expenses.

While the above may have given you food for thought, do note that the most common public liability claims are for falls, trips and slips. All it could take may be a customer to fall over a misplaced box on your shop floor, or you accidentally damage something valuable while working for a client, and potentially your business could face a huge claim against it. In circumstances such as these, public liability insurance is designed to help.