Public liability insurance

In case someone experiences injury or property damage as a result of your removals business.

Claims against your business for:

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

• accidental damage caused by you while moving furniture in someone else’s property, or for other reasons over the course of you carrying out your furniture removal work
• injury caused by you to someone else while you’re moving furniture in someone else’s property, or for other reasons while you’re carrying out your work
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employee (remember, if you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance)

For example:

• you’re trying to lift up a large metal table for your customer but the table leg gets caught on the carpet and rips a hole in it
• you accidentally drop a heavy sofa on your customer’s foot while you’re carrying it through their house, fracturing several bones in their foot
• your employee cracks a mirror that’s leaning against the wall by knocking into it with a chair by mistake

What you’ll need additional cover for

• damage to your customers’ furniture while in transit under your care – your customer would need to take out their own insurance for this purpose (or it may already be covered under their home insurance)
• if you sometimes work as a courier as well as a removals expert, you’d need to cover this trade separately under courier insurance

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• injury or illness to an employee (including casual workers) as a consequence of doing removals work for you

**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 employee breaks their toe by dropping a removals box full of kitchenware on their foot

Tools insurance

In case something happens to your furniture removal tools.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss or theft of the specialist tools you use to carry out your furniture removal work (especially handheld and portable electronic tools) whether on site or stored at your business premises
• flood, fire, or accidental damage to your furniture removal tools

For example:

• the tools you use to help you lift large pieces of furniture are stolen from your van while it’s parked outside a customer’s house during the daytime
• your heavy lifting and glider level system gets damaged on the way into a customer’s property

What you’ll need additional cover for

• if you leave your furniture removal tools locked in a vehicle overnight, they would need to be covered separately under goods in transit insurance

Read more about tools insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to your business and office equipment

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

• loss or theft of the equipment you use to run your business (meaning operational equipment, not specialist removals tools) while stored at your home or business premises
• flood, fire, or accidental damage to your operational equipment

For example:

• you accidentally sit on the tablet you use for invoicing customers, which breaks the screen
• the laptop you use for your furniture removal work is stolen from your business premises

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case your furniture removals business is hit with legal costs

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• the cost of resolving issues you could come up against in the running of your removals business, particularly disputes with your staff and tax or compliance irregularities
• personal enquiries by HMRC into you and other directors, as well as business enquiries
• helplines for tax advice, 24/7 confidential legal advice, and crisis PR support – providing expertise you can rely on at the press of a button
• legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance, or trespass

For example:

• you need help from an accountant because HMRC have decided to investigate your company’s tax affairs, or because you’ve been selected at random for an audit
• you need to defend yourself in court following the dismissal of an employee

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit due to injury or death – whether at work or elsewhere – for anybody you’ve named in your policy

For example:

• a door slams shut on your hand while you’re doing a removals job for a customer, meaning you’re unable to work for a month afterwards and you have to cancel several upcoming bookings
• your casual labourer breaks their leg on a night out

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 furniture removal 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 courier insurance or handyman insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

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

• Tradesman insurance
• Carpenter insurance
• Joinery insurance
• Kitchen fitter insurance
• Bathroom fitter insurance
• Labourer insurance
• Waste disposal – recycling (other)

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.