Do you need Self-Employed Business Insurance? [ad]

Admission time. I’ve been officially trading for 6 years as a limited company, and I’ve never had any self-employed business insurance in place.  

I have had many conversations with other freelancers and self-employed folks, in same or similar industries and was never clear if I needed to have insurance. And let’s face it it’s not the sexiest of topics to talk about. I also like to keep my monthly business costs as low as possible!

But the time has come to assess my business needs after all the hard work I have put in, understand the importance of self=employed business insurance and what it means to Mrs Mummypenny. Superscript have helped me to do this.

Superscript clearly communicate what business insurance means and which types of insurance are relevant to your business. They specialise in insurance for the self-employed, sole traders and freelancers. 

How Easy It Was to Set up My Insurance

Prior to selecting the insurance types I had already added in my personal and company information, along with my industry type that I needed cover for.  This means that the remainder of the process is tailored exactly to your business type. I chose the freelance insurance route; with most of my projects are on a freelance basis. 

Types of Insurance

Essential Insurance – Public Liability

“This covers your liability to members of the public for accidental bodily injury or damage to their property”.

I do spend time with my clients, often in their business premises. And sometimes I take part in filming opportunities in my own home. If you spend time with your clients in person where there is a potential liability, this insurance is recommended. 

Other Essential Insurances

There are other insurance types under the essential category, particularly if you have employees. There is Employers Liability insurance, covering for sickness or injury to employees and there is also Business Equipment Insurance covering accidental damage to business equipment at home or when travelling. Plus, there is Personal Accident Insurance that covers anyone working for the business if they have an accident. 

For each of these essential insurances on the Superscript website you can clearly see what you need and what you don’t need. I only need Public Liability insurance and clicked on the option for £1,000,000 cover for £4.68 per month. 

I clicked on ‘Do Not Need This Cover’ for the other types of essential insurance (I don’t have employee staff) and moved on the next Insurance section. 

Professional Indemnity

This is the insurance that I have debated over the years. I do not give advice. I don’t have the required financial qualifications to give advice. Everything I write about is guidance and my view and my view only, I have a legal disclosure on my website and have disclaimers on every sponsored post. Every post is checked with a fine toothcomb by my clients before they are published.

What is professional indemnity insurance?

“This covers your liability for professional mistakes or problems with your work”

If you are sued or there are any legal costs associated with your work this is the cover for you. To me it means that it doesn’t matter if I am giving guidance or advice, I still could have someone raise a claim against me as the definition is so vague, be that a reader or a client.

On the superscript website I select the business services that I would want covered. My business is rather diversified; hence I have selected lots of options, this doesn’t impact the monthly cost. I have gone for: – publishing (digital or print), communications, marketing/advertising and TV, Radio and online broadcasting. The options for you will be applicable to the business you entered in the account set up process.

I select the level of cover; I have gone for £1,000,000 at a cost of £13.25 per month. You can select more cover if you feel you need it.

Cyber Insurance

This is a newer type of insurance that you may deem necessary for your business

“This covers your liability for processing data and costs associated with a data breach or security failure”

If you collect customer data or maybe if you have a shop, then this is for you. 

It’s a very simple process where you just click on the types of cover required and the level of cover required within each, to be honest I went for the lowest value cover in each section, £1 million was enough for me. 

All that is left to do is read through a few pages of disclaimers, do read these carefully, as they can affect any future claims. And check out. My total monthly cost is £17.93 which feels okay, particularly when I have checked and compared with friends in my industry. A high five from me on the money saving and getting a good deal. 

The monthly insurance is them set up. It can be cancelled at any time with a 30-day cancellation fee. A clear advantage over annual business insurance paid in one annual fee.  

Referral Scheme

Superscript has a very good referral scheme where your friend if they sign up gets a £50 credit to their account and you as the referrer gets a £20 credit to your account. Win-Win! I do love a great refer a friend scheme.

Insurance Gives Reassurance

I feel a huge sense of reassurance now that I have my business insurance in place. I am not a fan of unnecessary insurance but this one feels right. To have both public liability and professional indemnity insurance is the responsible and right thing to do. 

For the self-employed Business is Personal. It feels right to protect the thing impacts on so much of your life. Superscript recently carried research with 2,015 self employed people and found that 35% of people strong or somewhat agree that their life is centred around their business. It really does make sense to protect that much of your life with business insurance, as you would with your life and life insurance.

This is a collaborative post with Superscript.