Insurance

Introduction

Depending on the nature of your business, it is important to understand what each of the most popular policies cover and how they might be relevant to your business. https://www.mygov.scot/business-insurance.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

If you have employees  you are required to have employers’ liability insurance. The purpose of employer’s liability insurance is to cover you and pay compensation in the event an employee suffers injury or becomes ill as a result of the work they do for you. You can find out more on the UK Government’s Employers’ liability insurance page.

While you are not legally required to have insurance to cover volunteers, it is good practice to do so, either as part of your employers’ liability insurance or as part of your public liability insurance. 

 
Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance is not legally required but will cover you if a claim was made against your business by a member of the public. This includes accidental property damage or injury caused by anyone acting on behalf of your business –  either yourself or an employee. Depending on the nature of your business this insurance may be worth considering. If you have visitors to your farm or croft who have an accident you could be liable for compensation. 

Professional indemnity insurance  

Professional indemnity insurance policies will cover your business if you make a mistake or if a client suffers a financial loss because of your work. So if for example you run a training course and someone attending the course does something as a result of the course which goes wrong, they may decide to blame you.

You can find more information on various other types of insurance such as buildings and contents insurance, cyber liability insurance and other speciality insurance that might be right for your business here: Get the right business insurance.