Business Interruption Insurance

The sum insured you need depends on your annual gross profit adjusted for standing charges such as the purchases of stock, carriage and freight. Having established an accurate figure for your last 12 months trading, this will need to be adjusted for future projected changes during the recovery period.

Make an accurate assessment of the length of time it will take you to recover to the same level of turnover as you achieved before the loss. This is dependent upon many factors – your trade, construction of your property, any specialist equipment or processes, availability of alternative premises, This period is known as the ‘indemnity period’. We can offer cover for different periods, such as 12, 18, 24 and up to 36 months.

Business insurance can cover three main areas of risk which could impact your business:

Professional indemnity insurance (PI insurance)

If you are offering professional advice as a surveyor, accountant, insurance broker, civil engineer, architect, designer or any form of business management or IT consultancy – you will have a need for professional indemnity insurance. Unfortunately, errors and omissions can occur when giving advice, potentially leaving you exposed to high legal defence costs or financial awards.

Professional negligence can be very costly, and there is no limit as to how much a compensation claim could reach in the UK. Therefore, a serious case could see thousands or even millions of pounds rewarded against your business. Professional indemnity (PI) insurance protects by covering legal defence costs, should you be deemed as legally responsible for the poor advice, error or omission, then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. The limit is selected by you and options are available from £250,000 to £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.

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Public Liability Insurance

It’s fair to say that if your business interacts with the public on a daily basis or your business activities are performed in a public area, you’ll want public liability cover.

Although how much you’ll need varies from business to business. It could mean protecting your business against a potential claim from a client, a customer or another member of the public in the wrong place at the wrong time that involves accidental bodily injury or damage to their property which you are deemed to be responsible.

Cover will include legal defence costs if the allegations are unfounded, otherwise if you are proven to be legally responsible for the accident then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. You select the limit including popular limits of £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.

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Employers’ liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement in the UK if you have employees. Should an employee injure themselves or experience property damage during the course of their work, the business could be liable for compensation and legal defence costs. Employers’ liability insurance from Towergate covers these costs up to £10 million for any one claim.

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Property insurance

Covers loss or damage to your property from fire and a range of hazards such as explosion, malicious damage, storm, flood, aircraft, impact, escape of water, accidental damage and theft.

• Buildings – the structure of the property including out-buildings
• Tenants' improvements – permanent additions or changes made by the tenant to a leased or rented property.
• Fixtures and fittings –fixtures are any items that are bolted to the floor or walls such as kitchen units, bathroom suites or boilers, and a fitting is any item that is free standing or hung by a nail or hook such as carpets and curtains, free standing ovens, fridges and washing machines.
• Electronic equipment – including computers and ancillary equipment, printers, copiers, phone systems etc.
• Tools and equipment – This includes handheld tools, power tools, plant equipment as well as computers and other electronic items.
• Machinery and plant - All other machinery, equipment and apparatus used to carry out your business activity (not otherwise included in other property definitions above)
• Stock – This includes raw materials, work in progress and finished stock.

Product liability

If you sell, supply, manufacture or repair products then you may need product liability insurance. Faulty or defective products which cause injury or damage to third parties, or their property, may instigate claims against your business even if the defect is not your fault.

Product liability insurance covers you against claims of this nature. Cover will include legal defence costs if the allegations are unfounded, otherwise should you be proven as legally responsible for the accident then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. The limit is selected by you and a range is available including popular limits of £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.

Find out more about product liability

Shop insurance

Whether you need to cover the business only or if you require cover for your premises too, we can provide shop insurance with options to cover high value stock, unique glass shop fronts and tenants’ improvements.

A shop package policy is perfect for the small high street or village shop and will cover loss or damage to your property from fire, flood, storm and theft, etc. It provides valuable loss of income protection known as business interruption insurance, if you suffer a reduction in turnover as a result of the damage caused to your property.

As a shopkeeper you will want to protect your legal responsibilities towards your employees, customers and the general public for accidental injury or damage caused to them from business activities. This includes both on or away from your premises or arising from the sale of products.

Public, products and employers liability are standard features of a retail shop insurance policy.
Special considerations arise if you collect or deliver goods.

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Cyber insurance

A growing risk for many businesses is cybercrime, if any part of your businesses operates using the internet, you could be at risk of cybercrime too. Cyber insurance will help protect you against the financial impact cybercrimes can have on your business.

Find out more about cyber insurance

Directors and officers insurance (D&O cover)

Even the best laid plans can falter. If you’re in a position where your advice can affect the success of entire business, it’s best to have cover in place if things don’t go the way you thought, Directors and officers insurance will take the financial strain away if you are challenged legally due to your actions.

Find out more about directors and officers insurance

Business insurance can cover a variety of risks which could impact your business. If you have employees, you are legally required to have a minimum of employer’s liability insurance included on your policy. Thereafter, it’s up to you to choose the types of cover which match your risks.

What does business insurance cost?

Our business insurance covers businesses great and small against a variety or risks, or just a few, all depending on how you operate. Therefore, it’s tricky to give a ball park figure or even an average cost. What we can tell you is that we give you choices and retrieve quotes from a panel of insurers so you can choose the right policy, at the right price.

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Watch our video to hear more about our business insurance:

Our business insurance covers businesses great and small against a variety or risks, or just a few, all depending on how you operate. Therefore, it’s tricky to give a ball park figure or even an average cost. What we can tell you is that we give you choices and retrieve quotes from a panel of insurers so you can choose the right policy, at the right price.

Given the greater awareness of retention and liability/fraud risks, firms are generally quite good at reducing the impact of and managing risks. SMEs make up approximately 99% of the businesses in the UK. These businesses tend to be reliant on a few key people that really help drive the business and so the temporary or permanent absence of a valuable member of staff can have a significant impact on the continuity of your business.

Whilst indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement, many types of business offering a service, advice or consultancy need it, as having a compensation claim made against you for breach of duty can be very costly to defend. Our business indemnity insurance policies can include professional indemnity insurance. This will not just cover legal and defence costs, but the cost of a successful claim against you up to the policy indemnity limit selected by you.

To help you spread the cost of your premiums, we offer a quick and easy direct debit instalment scheme for spreading payment over ten months. Please visit our dedicated instalment Direct Debit page to find out more.

A variety of payment options are available and the interest transaction charge and annual percentage rate (APR%) vary according to the amount of the premium, the number of monthly instalments and type of premium finance scheme selected. We will give you full details of the additional amount payable, instalment amounts, number of instalments and APR when you ask us for a quotation.