Reviewed: 17 June 2026
This hub explains common forms of business insurance in the UK, what risks they are designed to address and which questions to ask when reviewing cover. It provides general education and does not act as an insurer, broker or personalised insurance adviser.
Start with the risk
- Employee injury or illness: read Employers’ Liability Insurance in the UK.
- Claims about professional work: see Professional Indemnity Insurance.
- Injury or property damage involving the public: use the Public Liability Insurance guide.
- Claims involving directors’ decisions: read Directors and Officers Insurance.
- General small-business cover: start with Business Insurance for Small Businesses.
Compulsory and optional cover
Employers’ Liability insurance is compulsory for many UK employers and normally requires cover of at least £5 million from an authorised insurer. Other policies are generally not compulsory for every business, but may be required by a regulator, professional body, landlord, client or contract.
Check the official Employers’ Liability insurance requirements.
Professional indemnity insurance
Professional indemnity cover can respond to certain claims alleging negligence, errors, omissions or inadequate professional services. The wording, retroactive date, exclusions and notification requirements matter as much as the headline limit.
Public liability insurance
Public liability cover is designed for certain claims involving injury to third parties or damage to their property arising from business activities. It is commonly considered by businesses that visit clients, receive visitors, work at third-party sites or interact with the public.
Directors and officers insurance
Directors and officers cover can address certain claims made personally against directors or senior officers for alleged wrongful acts. It is distinct from cover held by the company for its own liabilities.
Questions to ask when reviewing a policy
- Which legal entity, people and activities are insured?
- Is cover claims-made or based on when an event occurred?
- What are the limit, excess and sub-limits?
- Which territories and legal jurisdictions are covered?
- What exclusions apply to the business’s actual work?
- What must be disclosed when applying or renewing?
- How quickly must circumstances or claims be notified?
- Does the policy cover legal costs inside or outside the limit?
Keep cover aligned with the business
Insurance should be reviewed when the business changes its services, turnover, employee numbers, locations, contracts, equipment, territories or corporate structure. A policy purchased for an earlier version of the business may no longer match its current risk.
Claims and records
- Keep policy schedules, wordings and renewal disclosures.
- Record incidents and preserve relevant evidence.
- Follow notification requirements promptly.
- Avoid admitting liability or settling a claim without checking the policy process.
- Document changes in activities and risk controls before renewal.
This hub provides general educational information. Policy coverage depends on the wording, facts and applicable law, so professional advice may be appropriate.
Explore this section
Insurance needs depend on legal duties, activities, contracts and policy wording. These guides explain concepts but do not recommend a policy or guarantee that cover will respond.
Key guides
- Professional Indemnity Insurance in the UK
- Public Liability Insurance in the UK
- Employers’ Liability Insurance in the UK
- Directors and Officers Insurance in the UK
- Business Insurance for Small Businesses
Official starting points
- Employers’ liability insurance
- Financial Services Register
- Health and safety guidance for businesses
For how we research, update and correct our guides, read the Editorial Policy. See the Disclaimer for the limits of this educational content.
How to build a business insurance programme
Business insurance should follow the risks, duties and contracts of the organisation rather than a generic shopping list. The first step is to understand what the business does, who could be harmed, what property or data it depends on, which contracts impose insurance requirements and which losses the business could absorb itself.
Insurance transfers selected financial risks. It does not remove legal duties, prevent incidents or guarantee that every claim will be paid. The policy wording, insured parties, dates, limits, excesses, exclusions, disclosure and claim circumstances all matter.
Start with a risk map
- People: employees, workers, volunteers, customers, visitors and members of the public.
- Professional work: advice, designs, specifications, calculations, reports, certifications and services.
- Property: premises, stock, equipment, tools, vehicles and property held for others.
- Operations: interruption, supply-chain failure, machinery breakdown and key-person dependence.
- Management: decisions by directors, officers, trustees or senior managers.
- Technology and data: system outages, cyber incidents, privacy breaches and fraudulent payments.
- Contracts: client, landlord, lender, professional-body and tender requirements.
Separate legal, contractual and optional cover
Employers’ Liability insurance is legally required for most employers in Great Britain, subject to limited exemptions. GOV.UK states that qualifying employers must obtain at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer and make the certificate accessible to employees. Other covers, including public liability and professional indemnity, are not universally required by a single rule, but they may be required by a regulator, professional body, landlord, client, lender or contract.
Record the source of every insurance requirement. A tender clause and a statutory duty are not the same, and each may specify different insured names, limits or territories.
Common policy categories
| Cover | Typical risk addressed | Key checks |
|---|---|---|
| Employers’ Liability | Employee injury or work-related illness claims | Legal requirement, insured entity, certificate and limit |
| Public Liability | Third-party injury or property damage | Activities, locations, products, subcontractors and exclusions |
| Professional Indemnity | Claims arising from professional services | Claims-made wording, retroactive date, run-off and notification |
| Directors and Officers | Claims against individual managers and directors | Insured persons, exclusions, defence costs and company reimbursement |
| Property and interruption | Damage to assets and loss of trading income | Values, indemnity period, dependencies and underinsurance |
| Cyber | Digital incidents, response costs and liability | Security conditions, fraud, privacy, interruption and panel providers |
Policy structure and terminology
Review the schedule, wording, endorsements and proposal information together. The schedule identifies the policyholder, period, limits and excesses. The wording defines the cover and exclusions. Endorsements amend the standard wording. A certificate may prove that cover exists but rarely explains all terms.
Check whether limits apply per claim, per event or in the aggregate for the policy year. Confirm whether defence costs sit inside or outside the limit. An excess may apply to damages, costs or each claimant. Small wording differences can materially change the outcome.
Disclosure and fair presentation
Provide accurate and complete information when arranging or renewing business insurance. Material facts can include activities, turnover, payroll, locations, claims history, overseas work, subcontracting, qualifications, security controls and known circumstances. Keep a copy of the information supplied and ask the intermediary to explain any assumptions.
Claims-made and occurrence cover
Some liability policies respond according to when an incident happened, while many professional and management policies respond when a claim is made and notified. A claims-made policy can depend on continuous cover, the retroactive date and prompt notification of circumstances. Cancelling or changing cover without considering run-off can leave a gap for past work.
Annual insurance workflow
- Update the risk map and list of legal or contractual requirements.
- Reconcile insured entities, locations, activities, turnover, payroll and asset values.
- Review incidents, complaints, claims and circumstances that may require notification.
- Compare limits, excesses, exclusions, endorsements and security conditions.
- Check the authorisation and identity of insurers and intermediaries.
- Record the decision, unresolved issues and responsibilities for policy conditions.
- Store policies, certificates, proposal information and claim contacts securely.
Provider and intermediary checks
Use the Financial Services Register to check relevant UK firms and individuals. Confirm the legal name, permissions and contact details rather than relying on a logo or registration claim. Understand whether the intermediary advises, arranges, introduces or only provides information, and who is responsible for explaining suitability.
Claims readiness
Nominate people who know where the policies are and how to notify an incident. Preserve evidence, avoid admissions outside agreed procedures and comply with time limits. Notify potential circumstances where the wording requires it; waiting for a formal demand may be too late under some claims-made policies.
Related ASH guides
- Business Insurance for Small Businesses
- Employers’ Liability Insurance
- Public Liability Insurance
- Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Directors and Officers Insurance
Official starting points
- GOV.UK: Employers’ Liability insurance
- Financial Services Register
- HSE: health and safety basics
- GOV.UK: directors’ responsibilities
Assign ownership inside the business
Insurance administration should have a named owner, but the owner needs information from finance, operations, HR, IT, legal and senior management. Finance can provide turnover, payroll and asset values; operations can explain activities and locations; HR can identify employees and benefit arrangements; IT can confirm security controls; and managers can identify contracts, complaints and potential claims.
Create an annual information request with a clear cut-off. The final renewal submission should be approved by someone who understands the business and can challenge assumptions.
Insurer, broker and policyholder roles
The insurer accepts the insured risk under the policy. A broker or intermediary may advise, arrange, administer or introduce, depending on its role and permissions. The policyholder must provide accurate information, comply with conditions and notify claims. Ask who is responsible for recommending limits, explaining exclusions and recording the business’s demands and needs.
Coverage gap review
Use a simple matrix listing each major risk, the policy expected to respond, the applicable limit and any known exclusion. Pay particular attention to boundaries between policies: professional advice versus physical damage, employee injury versus public injury, cyber events versus crime, and company claims versus claims against directors. A risk can fall between two policies if each assumes the other responds.
Claims and circumstances register
Keep a central register of incidents, complaints, threatened claims, regulatory enquiries and notifications. Record the date, policy, insurer reference, owner, current status and financial estimate. Review the register before renewal so known matters are disclosed consistently. Closing an internal complaint does not necessarily remove a policy-notification obligation.
Policy-condition register
Some policies require specific controls, inspections, alarms, backups, contracts or record keeping. Extract these into an operational register with a named owner and evidence. A condition hidden in an endorsement is useful only when the people running the business know it exists.
Acquisitions, new services and change
Do not wait until annual renewal when the business acquires a company, opens a location, enters a new country, launches a product, hires employees or accepts a materially different contract. Check whether the policy provides automatic cover for a limited period and what must be declared. Record the insurer’s response and any new endorsement.
Insurance document pack
- Proposal or statement of fact and all answers supplied
- Policy wording, schedule and endorsements
- Certificates and evidence supplied to third parties
- Broker or insurer correspondence explaining key decisions
- Claims and circumstances register
- Risk assessments, valuations and business-interruption calculations
- Renewal approval and unresolved coverage questions
Maintain an annual insurance review and claims-readiness file
Insurance should be reviewed when the business changes, not only when the renewal notice arrives. Record changes in employees, payroll, turnover, contracts, premises, equipment, vehicles, professional services, territories, data use and reliance on key suppliers. These facts can affect which risks exist and whether the information previously supplied to an insurer remains accurate.
Keep evidence behind the cover decision
For each policy, retain the schedule, wording, endorsements, certificate where relevant, proposal information, renewal correspondence and evidence of premium payment. Record why the limit and excess were selected, important exclusions and who must be notified if an incident occurs. Contractual insurance requirements should be compared with the actual policy rather than assumed from the policy title.
Prepare for an incident before one happens
Create a short notification procedure covering who records the facts, preserves documents, contacts the broker or insurer and avoids making admissions without appropriate advice. Keep photographs, correspondence, contracts, invoices, witness details and a timeline where relevant. Late or incomplete notification can make an already difficult event harder to manage.
Employers should check current official guidance on employers’ liability insurance and display or retain certificates as required. Businesses using a broker or regulated insurance intermediary can also verify regulatory details through the Financial Services Register.
HSE: employers’ liability insurance · Financial Services Register