What Is Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance covers accidents in public places from supermarkets to car parks. It is a legal requirement for an owner of a business that has any contact with the public to be covered by public liability insurance. Basically, if you run a business then you will almost certainly need to have cover. Public liability insurance covers your business for any injury that you or your business causes to the public or any damage you cause to a third party’s property as part of going about your daily business. If you run a home-business and customers sometimes visit you there, then it might also be a good idea to take out public liability cover just to be on the safe side.

The amount of insurance that you will need depends on a few key factors relating to your business. Firstly, the insurance company will need to know what your business does. However, it is not as straightforward as to say that the company is a construction site for example. The insurance company will need to know what sort of procedures the company does on a day to day basis, any other sub categories that the company undertakes and any potential areas of risk. This will enable the insurance company to assess how at risk the company is of being claimed against for accident compensation and from this they will be able to calculate the amount of insurance you will need. They will also need to know how many staff work at your company and what role they play. They will need to know how high up in the company each member of staff is, if they are manual or clerical workers and if they are full or part time workers.

The insurance company will need to know the exact date when you first started training. They may need to see records of this too. If you have worked for someone else doing the same trade before deciding to start up your own company then you may get a discount. This will depend on the amount of experience that you have had in the trade previous to setting up your own company.

The average public liability policy starts at £1,000,000 of compensation which is what most people take out initially. There is an opportunity to take out more if you think it necessary or if the risks in your company are higher then you can normally get £2,000,000, £5,000,000, or £10,000,000 cover.  Your insurance company will not make this decision for you so it is important for you to consider the amount before trying to get cover.

Finally, the last thing that can affect your insurance policy is your previous insurance or claims history. If you have had previous insurance then you must be able to show details of the company you were with and the expiry and renewal details. Some companies do offer a no claims bonus if you have held insurance before and have not claimed.

It is a legal requirement for an owner to have public liability insurance for their premises and will help to cover the owner in the event of any accident claims. If you are not covered then you will be faced with the compensation fee yourself and you will be in serious trouble with the authorities. It is always best to be safe, rather than sorry.