Public liability insurance is designed to cover your business if it’s sued by a member of the public.
This could be for injuries or illnesses it causes them, or damage it inflicts on their property.
It's designed to cover the cost of any compensation payouts you’re ordered to pay, as well as any legal fees you end up owing.
It’s for any business who interacts with the public.
And ‘the public’ doesn’t just mean passers by. It includes:
Public liability insurance isn’t a legal requirement. But you may still need it in order to operate.
Some trade bodies and industry regulators insist their members have it in place. If yours does, you'll need cover in order to trade.
Trade bodies that insist on it include, among others:
There are other scenarios in which you may need cover too. If you work on a contract basis, your contracts might insist you have it.
If you work for local councils as a contractor, they'll often insist you have it in place too.
As a quick guide, you may need it if:
Other types of business insurance you could benefit from include:
This is a legal requirement for most businesses with employees.
It works in a similar way to public liability insurance, but is designed to cover your business against any claims made by employees. This could be for physical harm they suffer on the job, or illness they develop as a result of their work.
As with public liability insurance, it can help you cover the cost of any compensation you’re ordered to pay and any legal fees you’re liable for.
This helps protect businesses against claims of financial or reputational damage.
This could be due to advice you give that leads to a client losing money, or it could be for things that damage your client's reputation. This might be something like leaking sensitive documents that are picked up by the press.
As with other types of business insurance, it’s designed to help you cover the cost of compensation payments and legal fees your business may be found liable for.
The quotes you'll get from us are provided by Simply Business, one of the UK’s best known business insurance providers.
Having served more than 3 million businesses since 2005, they’ve helped everyone from sole traders to large, multi-site operations find the right cover at the right price.
They’re regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority too, meaning that everything they do is out in the open. Just like every other partner we work with, you can rest assured you’re in safe hands with Simply Business.
Get a quote today and find the cover you need in minutes.
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The amount of cover you need depends on your personal circumstances, and the details of any contracts you’re bound by.
Here at Confused.com, we compare policies from £1m to £10m of cover.
Depending on your business, you may find £1m isn’t quite enough protection.
To get the right amount, think about:
How often you interact with the public or their property, as the more chances for something to go wrong, the more cover it might be useful to have.
How likely you are to cause them or their property harm, as riskier businesses involving things like heavy machinery may do well to have more cover in place than less risky ones.
How many employees you have, as the more people your business employs, the higher the risk of something going wrong. The more employees you have, the more cover you’re likely to need.
While it isn’t a legal requirement to have it in place, public liability insurance can benefit self-employed traders as much as owners of bigger businesses.
If your business harms a member of the public or damages their property, it could be held liable for damages, regardless of its size. Without public liability cover in place, as a self-employed trader, liability for those damages falls on you.
So, while self-employed traders don’t ‘need’ it, the peace of mind in knowing your business is protected can often justify the cost of having public liability insurance in place.
Page last reviewed: 27/11/2023
Reviewed by: Matthew Harwood
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