Typically required for businesses, public liability insurance protects business owners if an individual suffers an injury or if there is any damage to property because of the business. The insurance policy covers legal costs as well as compensation claims if the business is at fault.
Legal Expenses
In the event of a claim being made against the business, cost of the legal proceedings will be covered.
Compensation Claims
Compensation claims from damage or injury to a third party will be covered regardless of the location of the incident (your business premises, customer’s premises or somewhere else)
Repair Costs
If there is any damage to the premises or customer premises that can be repaired, than that cost is covered.
Medical Costs
If the NHS chooses to claim against you, the hospital treatment including ambulance charges will be covered.
Employer’s liability insurance is a mandatory requirement but public liability insurance is not. However in most cases, business owners find it to be an essential requirement, in some cases it is near impossible to work without it (for example, when the client requires there to be a certain amount of public liability insurance before they give you the contract)
It is also possible for the NHS to make a claim against you if an individual requires treatment due to your business. Overall one incident can lead to multiple claims which in some cases can be enough to put a small business in severe financial difficulty.
The total cost of the claim is unlikely to be fully covered by the insurance company. In most cases there is an excess which is payable where you have to pay, for an example, £500 or £750 of the claim amount.
As you might expect, the higher the excess, the lower the insurance premium as you will have to pay-out more on the bill.