Public Liability Insurance
Protect Your business from Claims Made by Members of the Public
While not a legal requirement, your business might need public liability insurance if you and your employees interact with members of the public – which includes your clients and contractors. Find out how you could be liable and what you can do to protect your business.
Would I Benefit from Public Liability Insurance? Public liability insurance covers you should something happen at your workplace that results in damage to someone’s property or injury to a customer or another member of the public. Like employers’ liability, public liability will cover costs and protect your business from any awards made against it in the event of a civil prosecution. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then you might consider taking out public liability insurance: • Are you in a trade where you have to go to a client’s property to work? • Do have meetings at clients’ offices? • Do clients visit you at your workplace – even if you work from home? • Do you own a business in the hospitality, entertainment or healthcare industries? • Are you a supplier to a company or large organisation?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Public Liability Insurance? Public liability insurance can protect your business from claims made against it by members of the public. People could make a compensation claim against you if they are injured or their property is damaged as a result of something that happens on your business premises or at an event you’ve organised.
The insurance can also protect you against claims made by clients and contractors as well as members of the public. It can cover your business against not just compensation payments but also legal fees and medical expenses.
Public liability insurance doesn’t protect you against claims made by employees – for this, you would need employers’ liability insurance.
Can You Give Me an Example of a Public Liability Claim? If there’s a spill on your shop-floor that isn’t marked with a warning sign and a client slipped and broke their wrist, they could make a claim against you. Or they could trip over a loose cable in your office and injure themselves. Or you might visit a client and accidentally knock your coffee over their smartphone and they claim the cost of a new phone.
What do I Need to Consider When Buying Public Liability Insurance? • Working from home might lower the level of cover you need • Having only a few clients visiting you will also lower your cover needed • The minimum level of cover is £1 million • Working on government contracts might take your cover needed up to £5 million
This article has been compiled using information available up to 14/09/22. Whilst care has been taken in the production of this document, Aon does not warrant, represent or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the document or any part of it and can accept no liability for any loss incurred in any way by any person who may rely on it. Any recipient shall be responsible for the use to which it puts this document. This document has been compiled using information available to us up to its date of publication and is subject to any qualifications made in this document.