Public liability insurance for interior designers

In case your design business causes an injury, illness or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property
• injury or illness caused by your business
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

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

For example:

• while measuring up at the client’s property, your step ladder leaves scratch marks on an expensive wooden floor, which need repairing
• you’re visiting a property for research purposes and knock a vase off a side table by accident

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

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:

• an employee injures their back while carrying a heavy shelving unit into the site you’re renovating
• your assistant trips over your work bag while measuring for a new carpet, breaking their wrist

Professional indemnity insurance for interior designers

In case there’s a claim for negligence, or mistakes in your work.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance interior designers?

Claims against your design business for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

• design advice which turns out to be incorrect
• mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

For example:

• you’ve been briefed on a large-scale project, which is due to launch on a specific date. The client doesn’t feel any of your proposals meet their brief, meaning they’ll miss the launch date and make a financial loss
• your assistant has measured the dimensions of a room incorrectly – the layout then has to be changed last minute, leading to extra costs for your client

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.

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

• theft, flood, fire or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your business
• operational equipment like your laptop, rather than specialist design and interiors tools

For example:

• on the way to a client meeting, your assistant leaves their laptop and all your designs in a taxi
• you drop your tablet while creating a client mood board, cracking the screen and making it unusable for your presentation the next day

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs as the owner of your design business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, like employee disputes
• the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance issues
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help protect your reputation as an in-demand designer

For example:

• your client specifies a deadline in your contract, which you miss, causing a dispute of contract and legal costs
• a temporary summer employee sues you for unfair dismissal, and you need to defend your legal rights

Read more about legal expenses 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?

• injury or death at or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you’re out running at the weekend and twist your ankle on a hidden pothole, forcing you take a week off work
• one of your designers is in a minor car accident, suffering bad whiplash and needing two weeks off work

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 interior design 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 project management insurance or architects insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

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

• Interior design insurance
• Garden design insurance
• Illustrator
• Fashion insurance
• Videographer insurance
• Designers insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant 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.