Flexible cover for commercial businesses

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  • Trusted products for commercial businesses
  • Speak to an insurance expert who’ll help you get the right cover
  • Our dedicated team and tailored products make it easy to switch
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Get a tailored quote for your business

Our flexible business insurance meets the needs of a diverse range of commercial businesses.

You can get a tailored quote online (just put in a few details to see a price), or give us a call and speak to one of our experts.

  • We work with a selection of trusted insurers to find a competitive quote, giving you choice and flexibility
  • Our insurance experts understand no two businesses are the same and can help you get the best cover for your business
  • More than 800,000 customers have chosen Simply Business – we’re rated 4.7/5 on Feefo and received the Platinum Trusted Service Award in 2022
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Benefit from personalised support

Our expert team understands bigger businesses like yours and can help you get the right insurance.

If you switch to Simply Business, you’ll get a dedicated insurance expert assigned to you. They’ll take the time to find out how your business works and ask the right questions.

This tailored service can give you the reassurance that your business is covered should the worst happen.

The Kada Coatings team

‘Carol at Simply Business asked questions until she understood what we were about. We trust and respect Carol and Simply Business because she found us the right insurance cover – we wish we’d found them sooner.’

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Get a £300 gift card when you switch to us*

As a thank you for choosing Simply Business, we’ll send you a £300 gift card when you switch to us for your insurance. You can use this at a choice of 10 retailers, including:

  • Amazon
  • Screwfix
  • John Lewis
  • M&S
  • B&Q

To get your gift card, you need to call our expert team and buy over the phone, quoting BONUS. Our experienced team will help you find a quote. You know your business inside out, so our experts tap into that knowledge to find a policy that suits your needs.

*Terms and conditions apply.

Insurance for commercial businesses

Our customer-focused team has built up knowledge about the insurance needs of commercial businesses, from manufacturers and wholesalers to metalworkers and engineers.

This has helped us to develop a commercial combined insurance product you can tailor to suit your business. Whether you want to cover yourself for accidents on site, legal disputes with clients, or the machinery you need to run your business, you pick what goes into your policy.

  • Commercial combined insurance

    Cover that meets the specific needs of wholesalers and manufacturers with large or complex risks.

  • Public liability insurance

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

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.

  • Professional indemnity

    In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.

  • Contents insurance

    In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.

  • Business legal insurance

    In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your business.

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

  • Stock insurance

    In case something happens to your products and consumables.

  • Tool insurance

    In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

  • Buildings insurance

    In case something happens to your business premises.

  • Own plant insurance

    In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.

  • Hired-in plant insurance

    In case plant machinery, like excavators, you’ve hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.

  • Contract works insurance

    In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.

  • Excess insurance

    In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.

  • Commercial combined insurance

    Cover that meets the specific needs of wholesalers and manufacturers with large or complex risks.

    What is commercial combined insurance?

    Commercial combined insurance includes a range of standard and optional covers. From buildings, contents and stock insurance, plus optional public, product liability and employers’ liability insurance, build a policy that protects the unique needs of your business.

    • Optional public, product, and employers’ liability cover up to £10 million
    • This is a property-led product so policies must include cover such as buildings, contents, or stock
    • Other covers to choose from include computers sum insured, all risks, and tenants improvements

    What businesses does commercial combined insurance cover?

    Our commercial combined insurance provides cover for a diverse range of wholesale and manufacturing businesses.

    Start your quote

  • Public liability insurance

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

    What’s typically covered by commercial public liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • damage to someone’s property, caused by your business activities
    • illness or injuries as a result of your business
    • employees causing accidental damage or injuries

    For example:

    • while hosting a meeting, you leave a cable running across the open office floor and your client trips, spraining their ankle
    • you serve a client sandwiches with a trace of sesame seeds, causing an allergic reaction
    • your employee drops heavy equipment on your client’s floor, causing extensive damage

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

    Read more about public liability insurance

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.

    What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • injuries to staff (including casual labourers and contractors) that are caused as a result of your business
    • illness suffered by an employee (including temps and casual workers) caused by working 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 office manager breaks their finger while trying to close a faulty window at your business premises
    • your receptionist trips over a cable running across the floor of your office, breaking their ankle
    • a temp worker scratches their arm on one of your tools, and the injury becomes infected

  • Professional indemnity

    In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.

    What’s typically covered by commercial professional indemnity insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • mistakes in the advice you give, which lead to a financial loss for your client
    • errors in your certification services that mean a client loses out financially
    • negligence in your advice or services that becomes costly for your client

    For example:

    • your advice on improving a client’s business performance leads to a financial loss for them
    • you deliver the wrong certification and training that’s costly for your client to fix
    • you make a mistake in a client’s tax return that leads to an HMRC fine

    Read more about professional indemnity insurance

  • Contents insurance

    In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.

    What’s typically covered by business contents insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • theft or vandalism to your office furniture or business equipment
    • damage or destruction caused by fire or flood

    For example:

    • a fire caused by faulty electrics destroys your office furniture and other contents such as business equipment
    • someone forces entry to your business premises and graffitis your office furniture
    • a leaking pipe floods the ground floor of your business premises, and you need to replace your damaged contents

    Read more about business contents insurance

  • Business legal insurance

    In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your business.

    What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • costs and expenses for disputes relating to debt recovery, including judgement enforcement
    • disputes with debt collectors, or any party who takes legal action against you, as a result of identity theft
    • costs and expenses for contractual disputes arising from an agreement

    For example:

    • one of your clients isn’t happy with your work and believes you haven’t met the contractual requirements
    • someone gets access to your company’s bank details and uses them to buy goods and services
    • your client is disputing a contract they had with you on the provision of a service

    Read more about business legal insurance

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

    What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • accidental death or injury, whether it happens at work or elsewhere, for anyone you’ve chosen to cover on your policy
    • lost income, plus medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

    For example:

    • an employee you’ve covered on the policy slips on ice while commuting to the office, injuring their lower back
    • you’re tidying the office and an old printer falls onto your shoulder, causing a serious injury
    • your business partner bumps their head after a fall, causing ongoing health complications which stop them from working

    Read more about personal accident insurance

  • Stock insurance

    In case something happens to your products and consumables.

    What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • damage to (and loss of) stock, following fires, floods, or vandalism
    • theft of stock following a break-in
    • costs involved with replacing the stock you need to operate

    For example :

    • someone forces entry to your business premises and steals from your stockroom
    • an important stock order falls from the back of your van and is never recovered
    • you’ve taken a stock delivery, which is stolen while you’re speaking to a neighbour

    Read more about stock insurance

  • Tool insurance

    In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

    What’s typically covered by tool insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • accidental damage to your tools and equipment
    • theft of the tools you use for your business
    • loss of your business tools

    For example:

    • your tools are stolen from your car or van
    • you lose some expensive equipment on the way to a job
    • a flood causes irreparable damage to your tools

    Read more about tool insurance

  • Buildings insurance

    In case something happens to your business premises.

    What’s typically covered by business building insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • damage to the structure of your building if there’s been a fire, flood, or vandalism
    • contents, fittings, and equipment if they’re damaged by an event like a fire or flood
    • repair and rebuild costs

    For example:

    • your shop’s wooden floor is damaged during a flood and needs replacing
    • your employee damages an interior wall installing new equipment, as well as a glass door
    • after a pipe bursts, you need to spend lots of money replacing flooring

    Read more about business buildings insurance

  • Own plant insurance

    In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.

    What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • replacement of own plant machinery should yours be damaged or stolen
    • water damage to your own plant machinery
    • accidentally injuring someone else while you’re working, or afterwards as a result of the work you’ve done

    For example :

    • an excavator is stolen during an overnight break-in at your works site
    • you drill through a water pipe while working on a construction site, causing extensive damage
    • your storage unit is flooded, damaging your cement mixer and generator beyond repair

    Read more about plant machinery insurance

  • Hired-in plant insurance

    In case plant machinery, like excavators, you’ve hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.

    What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • expensive costs and charges, if hired equipment gets damaged, lost, or stolen
    • equipment that’s on-site or in transit
    • causing injury or property damage while you’re working, or afterwards following your work

    For example :

    • thieves steal a generator from your trailer while you’re taking a break at a service station
    • you accidentally drive a digger through someone’s fence while working on site
    • a hired cement mixer and generator are made unusable following a flood

    Read more about plant machinery insurance

  • Contract works insurance

    In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.

    What’s typically covered by contract works insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • repair costs for work that’s been damaged or destroyed while on the job
    • labour, materials and tools that’ll get your work back to the stage it was in before the damage
    • damage caused by fires, floods, storms, vandalism, or theft

    For example :

    • there’s a fire at your place of work, setting back the completion date of the job
    • a flood destroys your specialist equipment
    • someone breaks into your site and steals your tools

    Read more about contract works insurance

  • Excess insurance

    In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.

    What’s typically covered by excess insurance?

    Claims made by you for:

    • when you make a claim on a cover included in your business insurance policy, you won’t need to pay excess

    For example :

    • after a heavy storm you need to make a claim on your building cover – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
    • a leak in the bathroom causes a guest to slip and injure themselves and thanks to excess cover, there’s no excess to pay on the claim
    • a tenant’s suitcase scratches the wooden flooring in your hallway – you won’t have to pay any excess on your accidental damage claim

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

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Commercial insurance FAQs

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about insurance for off licences. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

While it isn’t illegal to have no commercial insurance in place, some regulators may require you to have it before you can operate. The only type of commercial insurance that’s compulsory by law is employers’ liability insurance. If you have staff, it’s likely that you’ll need this cover.

This depends on different factors like the type of work you do, what kind of insurance you need, and the level of cover you need. The riskier insurers think your business is, the more you’re likely to pay for your policy. Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

A small commercial business insurance policy with public liability insurance could start from as little as £6.56 a month.

Most businesses with employees need to have at least £5 million of employers’ liability insurance. Other covers depend on the type of work your business does, and whether clients, contracts or regulatory bodies need you to have a certain level of cover. You can think about it in terms of how much you might need to pay out in claims if something goes wrong. Simply Business offers £10 million of employers’ liability insurance.

Yes, you can buy commercial insurance before registering your business, and even before you’ve started trading. Keep in mind that when buying an insurance policy, insurers will ask for details like your business address, the type of work you do, and your actual or expected turnover.

You can buy commercial insurance before you start trading, but some types of business will need a trade licence to operate. If you need a licence and begin trading without it, your insurance may be invalid. Trade licences are usually issued by the relevant licensing authority or by the local authority.

You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

  • one-off credit or debit card payment
  • BACS payment
  • Direct Debit

If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly installments.

This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

Make sure you’re covered for the services you provide:

The types of businesses we insure:

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

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