Public liability insurance for cake makers

In case your cake business and products cause an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, because of your cake business
• an injury caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• you deliver a box of cupcakes to a client and break a vase in their hallway
• some cakes you’ve baked for a corporate client cause food poisoning on their away day
• a client chips their tooth on a decoration that’s accidentally been mixed into a bake

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured because of working for your cake making business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury or illness that comes as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• your assistant burns themselves while taking a cake out of the oven
• a Christmas temp spills oil on the floor and slips, causing chronic back pain

Tools insurance

In case something happens to your cake-making or decorating equipment.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• the specialist tools you use for cake making, like handheld or portable electronic equipment
• loss, damage or theft

For example:

• your cake mixer is stolen at a trade fair
• a customer breaks your airbrush compressor kit

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to your ingredients or materials.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like your food dyes, specialist flours or decorating materials

For example:

• your cakes and dairy ingredients go bad, due to a power outage
• a flood destroys your ingredients, in the run-up to a big order

Read more about stock insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to equipment like your laptop or oven.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• theft of the equipment you use to run your business, like your laptop or oven
• accidental loss of your equipment
• flood, fire or accidental damage

For example:

• a fire in your kitchen damages essential appliances and equipment, including two ovens
• while cleaning down, your employee breaks an expensive juicer

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you have to pay legal costs while running your cake business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs associated with day-to-day operations, like an employee dispute
• legal costs associated with property damage, nuisance or trespass and associated legal costs
• HMRC, tax and compliance issues, if they come up
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a sought-after cake maker

For example:

• you run into a dispute with a client, who is refusing to pay their balance
• a temp you’ve hired for wedding season brings a case against you for unfair dismissal

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident – at work, or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• lost income, hospital bills or other medical costs associated with the accident

For example:

• you cut your finger while slicing fruit for a christening cake
• an employee you’ve covered breaks their wrist while playing football

Read more about personal accident insurance

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does cake maker insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider private tutor insurance or catering van insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Home baking insurance
• Bakery insurance
• Private chef insurance
• Sandwich shop insurance
• Coffee shop insurance
• Cafe insurance
• Restaurant insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.