Childminder insurance

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Childminder insurance – why is it important?

Childcare is a challenging industry that comes with a number of risks, so it’s important to consider protection that can cover you and your clients.

Fortunately, this doesn’t have to put a stop to your business activities. We offer tailored cover to protect you against the cost of a claim if the worst should happen.

  • liability insurance for childminders, including public and employee risks
  • compare cover from expert UK brands and protect your business
  • optional personal accident cover for your own injuries, or anyone on the policy

What does childminder insurance cover?

Public liability insurance is usually a key cover for many businesses. It protects your business against compensation claims if a member of the public gets injured or loses out financially. Beyond that, tailor your policy to your needs as a childminder, adding covers as you need them.

  • 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 childminder business

  • Business 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 childminder business.

  • Personal accident insurance

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

  • Public liability insurance

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

    What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    For example:

    • you spill hot coffee over a client during a meeting, causing a burn
    • a contractor working on the same premises as you trips over your tool kit, breaking their knee in the fall
    • one of your employees causes extensive damage to your client’s property when reversing their van

    **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 childminder 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 

  • Business 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 childminder business.

    What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • costs and expenses for legal representation to recover debts or unpaid invoices
    • costs and expenses following identity theft
    • tax protection if there’s an investigation into your business

    For example:

    • one of your clients is unhappy with your work and believes you haven’t met the contractual requirements – as a result they’re refusing to pay their outstanding invoice
    • your CEO’s contact details are used by a fraudster to set up a new line of credit with a business bank
    • HMRC is investigating your recent tax return as they noticed a fluctuation in your business income

    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, suffered by anyone covered on your policy, that happens at work or elsewhere
    • income lost by your business, as well as medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

    For example:

    • while on holiday with your family, you trip and fall on some rocks, spraining your wrist and preventing you from working the following week
    • your secretary (who you’ve covered) suffers a leg injury while swimming at the weekend, and needs time off work for physiotherapy
    • a junior staff member covered on the policy is in a minor car accident at the weekend, and needs to take some time off to recover

    Read more about personal accident insurance

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

How much does childminder insurance cost?

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.

Prices start from £4.74 per month

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The price is for up to £2 million of public liability insurance – 10% of customers paid £56.82 or less annually between 1st Jan – 31st May 2024. Equivalent to £4.74 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). 76% of customers have a £1 million limit and 24% £2 million. If you complete a quote, more types of cover will be available. These all have additional costs.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Public liability

No excess

£750

Employers’ liability

No excess

No excess

Contents

£200

£4000

Main building

£200

£400

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

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Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am – 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am – 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am – 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am – 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am – 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am – 02.00pm

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How do claims work for childminders?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims team any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.

£51 million in claims paid out in 2023

83% of claims were settled in 2023.

The price is for up to £2 million of public liability insurance – 10% of customers paid £56.82 or less annually between 1st Jan – 31st May 2024. Equivalent to £4.74 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). 76% of customers have a £1 million limit and 24% £2 million. If you complete a quote, more types of cover will be available. These all have additional costs.

Chosen by nearly 1 million small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then, with nearly 1 million customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

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FAQs for childminders

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.

Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 0146 683 to update your policy before you take on this new work.

If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.

Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

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.

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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