Is public liability insurance compulsory in the UK?

How the wording fits the job

The wording matters because public liability cover has boundaries. The name of the policy does not tell you where every boundary sits.

The certificate is useful evidence for a customer, but the policy wording decides far more than the certificate shows.

A sensible description of the risk should take account of: a council pitch specifies £5 million cover; a client’s supplier rules ask for a current certificate; and a venue refuses access without proof. The examples are there to test the description of the business. The policy wording still decides how a claim is handled.

Have the following details beside you: the written contract or booking conditions; the required limit and policy dates; and whether the named business and activities match. If one point is uncertain, ask how the question should be answered and keep the reply.

Do not file the documents unread. The business description, limits, excesses and endorsements deserve a first-day check. Make the enquiry before accepting the policy rather than after an incident.

Where a claim might begin

These are the less obvious ways trouble can start:

• A council pitch specifies £5 million cover
• A client’s supplier rules ask for a current certificate
• A venue refuses access without proof

If one of these examples is a regular part of your work, make sure it has not been lost in a broad trade description.

Put “a council pitch specifies £5 million cover” into the setting where it could really happen. Who would be nearby, whose property might be affected and what part of the work could lead to the incident?

Now compare it with “a client’s supplier rules ask for a current certificate”. A product, employee, vehicle or piece of advice may bring a different type of cover into the discussion.

Recent invoices and diary entries are a sensible check. They may remind you of occasional jobs that a broad trade label misses.

Useful records for the quotation

Recent invoices and contracts should help you establish:

• The written contract or booking conditions
• The required limit and policy dates
• Whether the named business and activities match

“the written contract or booking conditions”, “the required limit and policy dates” and “whether the named business and activities match” help turn a broad occupation label into a useful account of the business. Check them before starting the form and explain anything that does not fit a simple menu choice.

The resulting documents also need a clear position on do not assume last year’s certificate satisfies a new contract. If they do not, ask while the quotation can still be changed.

Two reminders from this page are “employers’ liability is a different cover with legal rules” and “do not assume last year’s certificate satisfies a new contract”; keep them beside the documents when you check the quotation. If the policy takes a different approach to “the written contract or booking conditions”, ask about it before the cover is needed and retain any written reply.

Save the answers you submit. Check the insured name, business description and dates when the policy documents arrive.

Read beyond the policy summary

• Employers’ liability is a different cover with legal rules
• Do not assume last year’s certificate satisfies a new contract
• Ask for unclear requirements in writing

If a clause is unclear, ask for an explanation before the cover is needed. Keep that explanation with the policy.

Check the awkward jobs too

Compare the trading name on invoices with the name shown on the quotation. The connection should be clear to a customer reading the certificate.

Price matters, of course, but a cheaper quotation is not useful if it leaves out the work that creates the risk.

If you later stop offering part of the service, keep records of the old work. The change may help at renewal, but it does not erase jobs already completed.

Before closing the file, return to this point: ask for unclear requirements in writing; check how this affects the jobs you accept and ask for clarification if the policy takes a different approach.