Public liability
✔ Harm to third parties
✔ Harm to third party property
✔ Legal fees
Business insurance financially protects you when things go wrong with your business. It is also called commercial insurance.
Unexpected problems such as workplace accidents, legal claims or equipment damage can cost companies thousands of pounds. Many businesses would have their operations disrupted if they had to pay these costs themselves. With commercial insurance your insurer pays the bill.
Sole traders, partnerships and small, limited companies can benefit from business insurance as much as large corporations.
Employers liability insurance is a legal requirement in the UK if you employ any staff, including unpaid ones. You can be fined £2,500 for every day you're not insured[3].
While it is not legally required, some clients, suppliers and professional bodies will only work with you if you have professional indemnity insurance or public liability cover.
Insurance is also a way to protect your business. There were 604,000[4] workplace injuries in the 2023-4 financial year. Could your business easily absorb a large compensation claim?
Thousands of our customers saved thousands of pounds last year by taking out business insurance:
✔ Harm to third parties
✔ Harm to third party property
✔ Legal fees
✔ Harm to clients
✔ Professional mistakes
✔ Legal fees
✔ Harm to employees
✔ Legal fees
Cheapest Annual Price | Average Annual Price | |
|---|---|---|
Public liability | £55.43[8] | £84.27[9] |
Professional indemnity | £39.12[10] | £78.40[11] |
Employers liability | £74.21[12] | £203.58[13] |
The table shows the average prices paid by our customers for the most common types of business insurance.
Average price means 51% of customers paid this amount or less. Cheapest price means 10% of customers paid this price or less.
According to our latest data, 10% of customers paid this when taking out an annual public liability insurance policy.
The cost of fixing insurable problems yourself is usually significantly more expensive than taking out insurance.
Insurers set their prices based on risk. The more likely they think you are to claim, or the more expensive it would be for them if you did claim, the higher your price is likely to be.
The key factors insurers will look at are:
Your business size
Your industry
Your claims history
The insurance type
The insurance excess
Without insurance your business must pay all the costs itself when something goes wrong. These costs can be very high.
With business insurance, you can be financially protected from the problems below.
You can be taken to court if a client or a member or the public believe they have been physically or financially harmed because of your company's negligence, including if their physical or intellectual property is damaged. Businesses have been found liable for everything from customers slipping on a wet shop floor to allowing a data breach of their client's confidential information.
Public liability and professional indemnity insurances cover the legal fees for mistakes made by you or your employees. Such fees can be costly: as of January 2025, the Post Office has paid out £270 million to victims of the Horizon Scandal. [14]
If you are a UK business and you have any non-family members working for you (including volunteers) then by law you must have employers' liability insurance. Without it, you can be fined up to £2,500 for every day you're not insured[3].
Employers liability insurance covers the compensation costs if a worker becomes ill or injured because of their work for you. This include ex-employees. For example, if a worker was exposed to toxics which created health issues years later they could sue their old employer for failing to put adequate health and safety measures in place.
Business contents insurance can help you recover the cost of losing company equipment to fire, flood, theft and other disasters. Tool cover can offer similar protection for tools.
The risk of some types of equipment losses is growing. London saw tool theft from vans increase by 60% between 2020 and 2023.
Business interruption insurance covers revenue losses and expenses during operational pauses that are caused by unforeseeable events.
£2 billion of business interruption insurance was paid out in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Association of British Insurers.[15]
Businesses often have a particularly important person or people without whom the business could not operate as usual. But anybody can be suddenly injured, or unexpectedly become ill.
Key person insurance protects you from the financial fallout of this scenario. It provides compensation to your company so that while your key person is out you can cover your losses and pay for replacement resource.
That's how much was paid out in 2024. Without business insurance, those customers would have faced paying that bill themselves.
To claim on your business insurance, follow these three steps:
Do this as soon as possible. You'll need your policy number, information about the problem, and proof of the ownership and value of any losses.
How long the insurance investigation takes varies a lot depending on how complex the claim is. It can take from a few days to several months.
If your claim is accepted, your insurer will pay a settlement to you or a third party. This usually takes about 5 working days.
Almost 9 in 10[17] of business insurance claims made by MoneySuperMarket customers were accepted last year.
All insurance has conditions and exceptions, so you should read your policy documents carefully to make sure you know what is and isn't covered.
When it comes to business insurance, the cheapest option may not be the best option for you. Sometimes it is worth paying a little more to get a better level of cover.
Raising your contribution to any claim usually lowers your premiums.
Examples include installing security cameras, adding layers of security and training your staff.
Taking out different policies with the same insurer is often rewarded with discounts.
Legal expenses insurance covers legal fees and offers legal and tax support services.
Commercial building insurance protects offices and workplace buildings.
Business contents insurance protects equipment, including in home offices.
Tool insurance protects tools from loss, damage, or theft.
Stock insurance protects you if your items are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Product liability covers legal fees if your product causes injury to a customer.
Income protection insurance pays out for accidents, illness and unemployment.
Business interruption insurance protects against disruption from events like fires.
If you have more than two vehicles then fleet insurance will cover them under policy
Many insurance providers offer business insurance aimed at particular types of small businesses. These include:
Protection for employee accidents, messing up a client's home, and more.
Protection for scaffolding damaging property, on-site injuries, and more.
Protection for falls, damage from loose tiles, and more.
Protection for electrical burns, unhappy clients, and more.
Protection for cracked pipes, leaks damaging client homes, and more.
Protection for accidents with sharp tools, damaging a client's furniture, and more.
Protection when cleaning people's offices and homes.
Protection for allergic reactions to products, slips in the salon, and more.
Protection for if something goes wrong for public house landlords and bar owners
Having the right business insurance can help protect you and your company against unexpected costs.
In the UK, around 1.7 million workers suffered from work-related illness last year. 33.7 million working days were lost as a result of work-related illness and workplace injury.
The average policy will set you back £84.27[9]. This pales in comparison to the costs you might have to pay if something goes wrong and you don’t have cover in place. Taking out a policy is often the best thing you can do for you, your employees and your customers. And we can help you find the right policy – at the cheapest price – so you can focus on running the day-to-day management of your company.
Jake Edmonds Senior Commercial Manager
Most types of personal insurance cover exclude "business use" as standard. This includes motor, home, and even some travel insurance.
If you own a small business or start-up, or if you're a sole trader, you need to take out business insurance to protect your home office equipment, any vehicles you use for business purposes, and any business equipment you take overseas.
What type of business insurance is best for small businesses?
Public liability insurance is popular with small businesses. It covers you against claims made by members of the public.
Employers' liability insurance must be bought if you have any non-family members working for you. It is a legal requirement in the UK.
Whether you own a small or larger business, our quotes come from a range of providers, and you’ll be able to tailor those policies to your needs. Depending on the size of your business, the type of commercial insurance and level of cover you need will vary.
We’ll need to take a few details about your business, as well as how many employees you have and how long you’ve been established. From there, we can do the heavy lifting to find you the most suitable quotes for you and your business. You can then decide on the business insurance policy itself, as well as any additional extras you need, such as tool insurance, legal cover, and contents.
Let us know about your business, its structure and expected turnover, and what type of business life insurance you are interested in.
We will talk with you to learn more about your individual business and then explore the market for appropriate policies and prices.
We will show you the options and prices and, when you’re happy, we can put cover in place for your business protection.
Business details: what your business does, how old it is, whether you're a sole trader, limited company or partnership etc.
Personal details: Your name, date of birth etc.
Employee details: Number of workers, if they're permanent or temporary etc.
Policy requirements: Policy type, cover level, any optional extras etc.
Specific details about insured items: Value of equipment etc.
Legal history: Past or ongoing insurance claims, legal disputes etc.
MoneySuperMarket has won the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, an independent seal of excellence, which recognises businesses that consistently deliver a world-class customer experience.
Find out all you need to know with our latest guides to business insurance.
If you have employees working for you, then you will need employers' liability insurance.
Other types of cover can also provide important protection:
Professional indemnity insurance will cover mistakes made when providing a service to clients.
Office insurance will cover any equipment you keep at home or in a rented premises.
Stock insurance can protect any items you sell while they're being stored on your premises.
Legal expenses insurance can help cover the legal cost of contract disputes, data protection issues, tax protection, corporate identity theft and more.
Business interruption insurance can help support your business if day-to-day operations are interrupted. For example, if your office building is flooded.
As a sole trader you’re only legally required to take out one type of insurance: employers' liability insurance if you have employees or volunteers.
But other types of cover might be a good idea considering sole traders are responsible for all business costs. Without insurance, if something goes wrong on the job you’ll be financially responsible.
Public liability insurance can protect you from expensive legal fees and compensation costs if a member of the public says they or their property have been harmed by your business.
If you have any non-family members working for you, by law you must have employers liability insurance.
Self-employed workers can also benefit from other types business insurance. It could protect your business from claims made against it, cover any legal fees and pay out compensation if any is due.
The only compulsory business insurance in the UK is employers' liability insurance, which you will need if you have any non-family members working for you, even if they are on temporary contracts or volunteers. You can be fined £2,500 for every day you're not insured[3]
Other types of business insurance aren't legally required. However, some clients and professional membership associations will insist you have various types of cover before they will work with you.
No, you don't need to register your business to buy insurance. You can buy cover before you register your business or if you’re self-employed.
Commercial property insurance is the same as business building insurance. This type of policy will insure the property you use against structural damage. This includes damage caused by fire, vandalism, and floods.
This cover is only worthwhile if you actually own the building you use for your business. If you rent, it is typically the responsibility of the property owner to take out insurance to cover the building.
If renting, then you would only need to insure the contents. This can be covered by business contents insurance as well as stock insurance.
Business interruption insurance will cover your company for loss of income or gross profit if an unexpected event prevents you from operating as usual.
For example, if you were forced to halt operations because your offices were flooded, your insurance would pay out to cover any financial loss and additional expenses needed to keep your business running.
You work hard to earn your money, and we don’t think you should waste a penny of it paying over the odds on your household bills. That’s why at MoneySuperMarket, we’re on a mission to save Britain money.
Whip your credit score into shape with Credit Score
Super save over and over again with Energy Monitor
There are always more ways to save with MoneySuperMarket
So how do we make our money? In a nutshell, when you use us to buy something, we get a reward from the company you’re buying from.
You might be wondering if we work with all the companies in the market, or if our commercial relationships with our partners might make us feature one company above another. We’ve got nothing to hide, and we want to give you clear answers when it comes to questions like these, so we’ve pulled together everything you need to know on this page.
According to Simply Business data, 10% of customers paid £4.62 or less monthly for public liability insurance policy with Simply Business. Figure based on annual quotes purchased between 1st February- 30th April 2025.
Simply Business is one of the UK's leading providers of business insurance, serving 1 million customers across 1,500 trades.
Source: Gov.uk
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that 604,000 workers sustained a self-reported non-fatal injury in the workplace during the 2023/24 financial year.
Average claims value for MoneySuperMarket customers who claimed on their business insurance in the last 12 months. Data provided by SimplyBusiness.
Number of business insurance claims by MoneySuperMarket customers in the last 12 months. Data provided by SimplyBusiness.
Percentage of business insurance claims made by MoneySuperMarket customers in the last 12 months that were accepted. Data provided by SimplyBusiness.
According to Simply Business data, 10% of customers paid £55.43 or less annually for public liability insurance policy with Simply Business. Figure based on annual quotes purchased between 1st February- 30th April 2025.
According to Simply Business data, 51% of customers paid £84.27 or less annually for public liability insurance policy with Simply Business. Figure based on annual quotes purchased between 1st February- 30th April 2025.
According to Simply Business data, 10% of customers paid this or less annually for a professional indemnity insurance policy with Simply Business. Figure based on annual quotes purchased between 1st February- 30th April 2025.
According to Simply Business data, 51% of customers paid £78.40 or less annually for professional indemnity insurance policy with Simply Business. Figure based on annual quotes purchased between 1st February- 30th April 2025.
The price is for £10 million of employers' liability insurance and up to £2 million of public liability cover – 10% of customers paid this or less annually between 1st Feb - 30th April 2025.
The price is for £10 million of employers' liability insurance and up to £2 million of public liability cover – 51% of customers paid this or less annually between 1st Feb - 30th April 2025.
Source: The Post Office
Source: Association of British Insurers
Simply Business data 2024
88% of business insurance claims made by MoneySuperMarket customers were accepted in the 12 months before March 2025. Data from SimplyBusiness.
