A quick guide to insurance

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in business for a while, buying insurance can be complicated, confusing, and time consuming. But there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s vital to keep your business running if the worst should happen – on top of that, some insurances are required by law.

This quick guide sets out some basic guidance to help you get started. But remember, we are always happy to help if you need advice, or if you simply don’t have time to do the research yourself, we can help you assess what you need.

Understand your risks

Naturally, you want to buy the right insurance to protect your business, at the right price – without overspending unnecessarily, and no one wants to find they have inadequate cover when it really matters.

So, the first step is to work out what you need to insure and how much protection you need.

That’s about understanding what your business needs to keep it running, as well as the things that could go wrong – incidents that could affect your employees, customers, equipment, property, and the general public.

Ask “what if?” questions such as:

• What if my employees are injured at work?
• What if something happens to a customer, or the public as a result of my work, or on site?
• What if I make a mistake that puts people in danger?
• What if my shop, office, or workshop is affected by fire, flood, or a break-in?
• What if my tools or stock are lost or stolen?
• What if my van is stolen or written off?
• What if I incur significant legal expenses?
• What if I have an accident and can’t work?

Select the type of insurance you need

Clearly, any and all of the risks above could have terrible consequences for a business.  The good news is there are insurances specifically designed to protect you and your business against them.

Liability insurance

The starting point in finding the appropriate cover you need is to look at compulsory insurances – and ones that protect you in the event you are deemed liable for incidents affecting customers and the public.

• Compulsory employers liability insurance: If you employ people, you must have this insurance by law. It covers things like injury at work, slips, trips, and falls affecting employees where you are negligent.
• Public liability insurance: This insurance cover is there to protect you in the event of injury or incidents affecting customers or the wider public – for instance helping you to defend compensation claims, or cover compensation costs if they are awarded against you.
• Professional indemnity insurance: This cover protects you and your business in the event of legal claims relating to advice you have provided and will cover the cost and expenses incurred in your defence.

In all cases, the amount of cover – or the cover limit – you buy is vital. The employers liability and public liability we offer provides protection ranging from £1 million to £10 million, but it’s usually worth getting advice on exactly what level of cover you need, as underinsurance can have serious financial consequences in the event of a claim.

Meanwhile, our core products for electricians and other contractors include professional indemnity cover as standard – with a limit of £5 million or £10 million depending on insurer.

Insurance for vans, tools, and more

Beyond liability cover, you may also want to consider insurance for the assets and property on which your business depends.

That could mean adding cover for:

• Plant – whether owned or hired in.
• Legal expenses.
• Property – e.g. a shop, an office, or a workshop.
• Personal accident – financial support and compensation for injury and/or disablement.
• Business vehicles such as vans.

Get advice and support

Clearly, every business is different and your insurance should protect you and your business against the specific risks you face. Therefore, the types of insurance and levels of cover you choose should be individual to you.                                                                                       

If you don’t know exactly what insurance cover you need, we recommend you seek advice and support from an insurance specialist like us.

As an insurance broker, we’re ready to provide that help – working with you to understand your risks and the cover features you need, before matching your requirements with the insurance options we have available.

Let NICEIC Insurance help you

We’ve worked closely with Certsure LLP, to present a range of insurance options for NICEIC registered and non-registered contractors.

One of the many benefits of being a NICEIC registered electrical contractors is that you receive a 10% discount on the cost of your business contractors insurance.

NICEIC Insurance is part of Jelf, an award winning expert in insurance and risk management. We currently provide more than 35,000 business insurance policies for over 21,000 customers across the UK, so it’s safe to say we have the experience and expertise to help our business insurance customers obtain the cover they’re after, at the right price.

Over many years in business, we’ve developed strong links with both specialist and leading UK insurers so we can offer you high quality insurance protection, at a price that’s competitive.

Try us today, get a quote or give us a call.