Claims alleging injury or property damage arising from your business activities.
Commercial protection
Business Insurance With a Clearer Flight Plan
Bring together the covers that protect your people, property, income and responsibilities, shaped around what your business actually does.
Built around the business
Start with exposures, not product names
A business can face claims from employees, customers, professional advice, damaged property, cyber incidents and interruption to trading. The appropriate combination depends on contracts, turnover, staff, locations, equipment, customers and the consequences of being unable to operate.
Common cover
Protection that can work together
Protection for employee injury or illness claims and a legal requirement for most employers.
Claims arising from professional advice, design, errors or omissions.
Buildings, contents, machinery, stock and portable equipment.
Lost income and additional costs following an insured event.
Incident response, data risks, interruption and liability following cyber events.
Contracts and limits
Your customers may set minimum insurance requirements
Contracts can require particular liability limits, indemnities, territorial scope or professional cover. Meeting the headline limit is not enough if the policy excludes the activity or contract obligation concerned.
Review when you
- Take on employees
- Move premises
- Sign a major contract
- Launch a new service
- Buy expensive equipment
- Increase turnover significantly
Design cover around consequences
Build cover around the consequences of a serious loss
Business insurance becomes easier to structure when management considers what a major incident would actually do. A fire can damage property and stop income; a cyber event can interrupt systems and create notification costs; an allegation of poor advice can require legal defence even before liability is established.
These consequences overlap. A useful programme connects property, liability, interruption and specialist covers instead of reviewing each product in isolation.
Limits and financial information
Match policy limits to contracts, assets and income
A familiar limit is not necessarily an adequate limit. The correct amount should be supported by the exposure it is intended to protect.
Liability limits
Customer contracts, site access rules and the potential scale of injury or property damage can influence the limit required.
Buildings and contents
Values should reflect rebuilding or replacement on the policy basis, including professional fees, debris removal and specialist installation where relevant.
Stock and seasonal peaks
Maximum exposure may be higher than the normal balance. Seasonal purchases, customer orders and goods at other locations should be considered.
Business interruption
The financial basis, indemnity period and dependencies should reflect the time and money required to restore normal trading.
Professional work
Fees, contract values, retroactive exposure and the financial effect of an error can matter more than general business turnover alone.
Cyber and technology
Data volume, system dependency, outsourced providers and incident-response capability help define the exposure beyond a simple computer count.
Keep the programme current
Review insurance whenever the business changes
Annual renewal is not the only time information can become outdated. New services, contracts, premises, employees, equipment or overseas activity can change the risk during the policy period.
A simple change-control process helps management recognise when an insurer or broker should be told. The aim is to avoid discovering after a loss that the policy still describes last year’s business.
Events that should trigger a review
- Signing a contract with new insurance obligations
- Taking on staff, apprentices or labour-only workers
- Moving, extending or opening another premises
- Adding a service, product or professional activity
- Purchasing high-value machinery, stock or technology
- Changing turnover, territories or customer profile materially
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Keep business cover easy to review
Start with the risks that could cause the biggest loss. Think about people, property, stock, equipment, contracts and lost income.
Then match those risks to the relevant policy sections. This is usually clearer than choosing cover from product names alone.
- List the main business activities.
- Check property and stock values.
- Review liability limits in contracts.
- Plan for a serious trading interruption.
The best review starts with the business, not the insurance jargon.