- Employers liability: legally required once you employ anyone, at least £5 million of cover, with fines of up to £2,500 for each day without it (As of Oct 2026)
- Public liability: not compulsory, but many clients and contracts will not proceed without it, and they set the limit
- Professional indemnity: if you give advice or design, and effectively mandatory in some professions
- Tools and equipment: usually excluded from van insurance and stolen overnight more than you think
- Product liability: if you make, alter or sell physical goods
- Motor: every vehicle used on a road needs at least third-party cover, and the policy must allow the business use you actually make of it
Employers liability. Required by law from your first employee, with a daily penalty for going without. The certificate must be accessible to your staff.
Public liability. Not legally required, but you work in people's homes. One escape of water claim runs well past what most small firms hold in reserve.
Tools in the van. Almost always excluded from vehicle insurance and stolen overnight far more than people expect.
Not needed at your size: professional indemnity, unless you start specifying or designing rather than installing.
Want me to list what to check on the policies you already hold?
It separated legally required from would ruin you, which are different lists.
Employers liability in detail
At least £5 million of cover for any one occurrence, from an authorised insurer, from your first employee, apprentices included. The certificate must be displayed or available to staff, and failing to do that can cost up to £1,000. The main exemptions for a small business are narrow: a company whose only employee owns at least 50% of its shares, close family employed by a business that is not incorporated, and employees normally based abroad. Northern Ireland has its own regime. As of Oct 2026.
Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 ss.1, 2(2)(a) and 5; Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998 regs 3 and 5 and Sch 2 para 15
Tell the insurer everything that matters
When you buy and at every renewal, you must make a fair presentation of the risk: every type of work you do, past claims and anything else material. If the failure was deliberate or reckless, the insurer can avoid the policy and keep the premium. If it was honest, the remedy depends on what the insurer would have done: avoid the policy and refund the premium if it would not have covered you at all, apply the terms it would have imposed, or pay the claim in proportion if it would have charged more.
Insurance Act 2015 ss.3 and 8 and Sch 1 paras 2, 4, 5 and 6
Undeclared work is where claims get cut. The policy covers the business you described, not the one you run.
Professional indemnity is written on a claims-made basis: the policy in force when the claim is made pays, not the one in force when you did the work. If you stop trading, you need run-off cover.
When something goes wrong, tell the insurer promptly and before you admit anything or agree a settlement. Keep the photos and job records, and let the insurer lead.
I run a [type of business] in the UK with [how many] staff. We [describe the work and whether you enter customer premises]. Which insurance is legally required for me, and which would be reckless to go without?
Every lesson ends with a question to hand to a Greymill specialist, who answers with what it knows about your business.