Public liability insurance

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

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for acupuncturists?

Claims against your business for:

• injuring someone else while you’re working, or afterwards as a result of your work
• damaging someone else’s property while working, or afterwards because of your work
• injury or damage caused by your employee (remember, if you employ people, you must have employers’ liability insurance – it’s a legal requirement)

For example:

• someone trips over a bag on the floor in your premises, causing them to break their ankle
• you accidentally knock a client’s laptop onto a hard concrete floor, damaging it beyond repair
• your employee smashes a TV while working in a client’s house

**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 practice

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury to someone you employ, including contractors and temps, that happens as a result of working for you
• a member of staff (including casual workers) falling ill due to your business

**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:

• one of your employees falls down some stairs in your business premises, and makes a claim against you for chronic shoulder pain
• a temporary employee traps their hand in a door at your premises, causing several fractures
• a member of staff trips on a ledge on their way to a meeting, injuring their hip

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:

• accidental damage to your contents, or the equipment you use to run the business
• theft, flood, and fire damage

For example:

• someone breaks into your business premises and steals three company laptops, as well as two sets of headphones
• a faulty dishwasher floods your office kitchen, causing damage to several appliances
• your business equipment is damaged by vandals during a break-in

Read more about busines contents insurance

Business legal insurance

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

What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• costs and expenses for contractual disputes arising from an agreement
• cases relating to civil action taken against you for compensation under data protection legislation
• employment disputes and compensation, for both employees and volunteers

For example:

• a client says that your work wasn’t delivered on time and that you didn’t meet your contractual obligations, and they’re refusing to pay
• your employee leaves their laptop unattended in a coffee shop, and a third party is able to lift a customer’s data
• you need to dismiss an employee following client complaints, and they threaten to file an unfair dismissal lawsuit

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 injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• medical costs, lost income, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• your business partner, who’s named on the policy, is injured while ice skating and left permanently disabled
• you fall down some stairs at home and lose the use of your right arm
• an employee you’ve covered is playing squash at the weekend and hits their head on the wall, causing concussion and a hospital stay

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 specialist business equipment
• theft of the tools you use to do your job
• loss of your tools and equipment

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

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 [TRADE] 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