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Do your subcontractors need small business insurance?

28 Oct 2009

When you use subcontractors, check whether they have small business insurance. Otherwise, your customers might look to you to cover any claims they may have that are due to error by a subcontractor employed by you.

And if you are a subcontractor, then making sure that you have the right business insurance in place can save a lot of stress and financial loss in the event of a successful claim against you.

A typical small business insurance policy for subcontractors would involve the main components of commercial cover for any operation. These include the following:

  • Public liability insurance

Public liability cover is essential for claims your subcontractors may face from third parties relating to personal injury or damage to property. For example, your subcontractor cleans the floor of an office building and leaves it wet with no warning sign. An office worker slips on the wet floor and breaks her leg. She sues for personal injury.

Public liability claims can be very high indeed, and include the legal fees of the claimant which can themselves run to tens of thousands of pounds. Public liability insurance forms part of all our small business insurance policies, due to the essential protection it can offer.

  • Employers' liability insurance

Consult a dedicated insurance specialist such as ourselves about whether employer's liability insurance is a legal requirement for your business. In most cases it is, but there are some exceptions. This cover relates to claims employees might have against you for injuries and illnesses they sustain at work.

  • Buildings insurance

If a subcontractor operates out of separate premises, they may need to consider buildings cover.

  • Business interruption insurance

Business interruption cover relates to loss of profit for the time when you cannot run your business at all or at full capacity because your premises or systems are being rebuilt or repaired following damage by an insured risk. This could help a business stay afloat following a disaster.

We are experts in finding insurance for risks that are unusual. We provide dedicated teams of offline support advisers, and competitively priced protection.

 

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