4 Types of Liability Insurance Coverage Every Business in London Should Have
What are the four major types of liability insurance coverage every business in London should have? Why are these insurance contracts important to the progress of any UK business?
An organization’s business procedures and safety guidelines are critical. Highly successful entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom understand, however, that the business environment may be incredibly unpredictable. Human error is always a possibility no matter how many protocols are in place.
If something goes wrong, your company could be held responsible for the consequences. The best approach to ensure that your assets are safeguarded is to ensure that you have the appropriate insurance liability coverage in place. To be fully covered, nearly every business requires these four forms of liability coverage:
- Commercial General Liability (including Products Liability)
- Professional Liability
- Cyber Liability
- Employment Practices Liability
Commercial General Liability in London
Commercial General Liability is the most common type of insurance required by all businesses in the United Kingdom. This coverage is meant to protect your company’s assets in the event that a lawsuit is filed against you for negligence that results in an injury.
This could include bodily injury to a consumer caused by your job or a bad product, property damage, or incorrect or misleading advertising. It doesn’t matter whether it was a newspaper advert on Daily Mirror or a social media campaign on TikTok.
A typical General Liability policy would protect your company for up to $1 million in damage and legal expenses associated with a single claim (Each Occurrence) and up to $2 million in total losses paid during the period (General Aggregate).
The total might be a combination of any losses, such as consumers being injured by falling in your store, allegations of slandering another company, or losing control of your crane during construction and causing damage to an adjacent structure. While these are common limits, if your company requires more than $1 million in coverage, you can purchase a higher limit through an umbrella or excess liability policy.
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A Remark on Product Liability
Due to the special hazards of the work they conduct, some businesses must carve out certain coverages generally provided under General Liability insurance.
If a manufacturer is creating edible foods or products with a higher level of risk, for example, they will almost always need to obtain a separate Products Liability policy. This will safeguard the company if someone or anything is injured as a result of their goods.
Professional Liability Insurance in London
Professional Liability insurance is becoming more common. It was created with attorneys, accountants, physicians, engineers, insurance agents, and realtors in mind. These are jobs where clients make decisions based on your professional advice.
When the ultimate product is a professional opinion, it gives coverage. More industries, however, require this coverage, and it is frequently supplied to contractors, advertising agencies, and consultants of all types in London.
It’s worthy of note that you also check out the difference between professional liability and general liability insurance in London.
How much does professional liability insurance cost for a consultant in London? The uniqueness of every business in London is always obvious. And as such, insurance requirements will depend on a lot of factors. The two key factors that determine the cost of professional liability insurance are the size of the business and the industry. Small-to-medium-sized consulting practice owners in London should expect to pay an annual insurance premium of $350 for a professional liability insurance policy with a $500k limit.
Cyber Liability Coverage in London
If you’ve been following our insurance blog you would have read our previous articles where we discussed why it’s important for SaaS startups to have cyber liability and the various forms of cyber liability coverages that a startup in London should have.
The coronavirus pandemic gave new chances for hackers to target consumers and organizations, resulting in estimated worldwide cybercrime losses of just under $1 trillion in 2020. Most businesses in London were victims as well.
While cyber liability policies were formerly a mere suggestion, given these figures, they are now required for any company in London that has a website or utilizes a computer. This isn’t a threat that will go away anytime soon.
The epidemic has resulted in a significant increase in cybercrime. Not only were there more attempts at fraud, but the cash amount of each attempted fraudulent transaction was also 5.5 percent more than it had been in the six months before the outbreak.
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Your company could lose hundreds of thousands of British pounds if you don’t have Cyber Liability. These policies, however, are not all the same. They might be relatively minimal, such as merely covering reimbursement of expenditures in the event of a data breach, or they can be very broad, encompassing extortion, hacking, wire fraud, third-party responsibility, and more.
When talking about Cyber Liability, make sure you and your agent both understand exactly what the insurance covers. You might want to reach out to reliable insurance agents in London to help you check if your business is among the top six industries that need cyber liability insurance coverage the most.
Liability for Unfair Employment Practices
Employment Practices Liability is becoming increasingly important if your company has employees. The EEOC received 72,675 complaints of workplace discrimination in 2019. In the UK, the minimum cover level required by the law is £5 million.
As Covid-19-related cases are filed, attorneys foresee even more in 2020. Discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), age discrimination, national origin discrimination, disparate effect claims, retaliation, and wrongful termination have all been common employment practices liability claims.
An Employment Practices Liability coverage covers your company’s legal costs and other fees if there are any allegations of:
- Hiring or firing practices that are unequal
- Discrimination
- Harassment
- Wages were paid incorrectly
Employment practices liability insurance not only protects the company when workers are accused of unfair treatment (known as First Party Liability), but it also protects the company when harassment is perpetrated by non-employees such as suppliers or delivery drivers (called Third Party Liability.)
Why These 4 Types of Liability Insurance Coverage in London Are Important
After a loss, having the correct liability policies in place can mean the difference between staying open and closing your doors forever. There are various additional types of liability policies and insurance coverages available for the sole purpose of safeguarding your business in the United Kingdom.
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Working directly with an independent insurance agent in London is the best course of action. Talk to them about the ins and outs of your daily business operations, as well as the concerns that keep you awake at night. They’ll help you assess your risks and create an insurance plan to provide you peace of mind and protect the company you’ve worked so hard to build.
