One of the costs thats easy to overlook when you first get premises or move to another location is office insurance. Whether you rent or buy premises, adequate office insurance is an essantial investment that will give you peace of mind. Just like car insurance, office insurance is there to protect you in case something happens that could damage your business, but unlike car insurance, most of the desirable elements are not mandatory.Apart from employers liability cover if you have employees, theres no legal requirement to take out any comprehensive office insurance package, no matter how advisable that may be.
An office insurance policy is there to cover against the day-to-day risks of operating business premises. These can include catastrophes such as fire, flood and burglary, as well as accidents such as a member of the public or an employee tripping over on your premises. This may not sound serious, but in this increasingly litigious age, the threat of legal action is as great a risk to your business as a fire is.Around 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months, and even if the incident is not business- critical, any disruption to your premises will affect revenue and could easily wipe out your profits. As the owner of a business, you need to be assured that if something bad happens, your insurance company will be there to help you get back to normal.
Officebusiness insurance policies tend to lump together a number of different types of cover.Most will include contents insurance, which will protect and replace everything in your premises if it is stolen, damaged or destroyed and many policies incorporate glass cover to protect the windows. Some will cover money held on the premises and may even cover employees while taking that cash to the bank. The better policies will include an element of compensation for ‘business interruption’ which usually means the insurance company has an incentive to speed claims through quickly to limit their compensation payout. Other types of commercial insurance should be bundled with your policy and should typically include the important insurance policies such as employers liability (required by law), public and product liability and professional indemnity for service businesses.
Other insurance policies relevant to small businesses especially could include business travel, so you are covered no matter where you work, and personal accident cover. This is particularly important if you have a field sales force working away from your business premises on a regular basis.Look for an insurance policy that bundles together the main insurance covers you are likely to need. Depending on your business needs, you can add cover to protect your premises, contents and equipment as well as providing essential cover for public liability, employers liability and product liability. The better providers will include cover for business equipment at home and provide an all risks option to provide business property protection anywhere outside of the office.
Look too for a package that provides personal liability protection for directors and officers of your business and some packages even include up to £75,000 worth of legal expenses insurance cover in the event of employment disputes, employment awards, health and safety prosecutions and tax enquiries and disputes.Invaluable to small businesses are providers which include a free business advice service within the deal, covering access to access to specialists who can provide advice on tax and VAT, employment, health and safety and general legal issues.
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