When might £10 million public liability cover be needed?

How this applies to the work

Your invoices and diary will usually describe the business more accurately than a broad label. They show the tasks, sites and customers that the policy has to accommodate.

A public liability policy is concerned with certain claims from people outside the business. Your own tools, an employee’s injury or the cost of redoing poor work can fall elsewhere.

Three parts of the work deserve a closer look: work for major organisations; high-footfall or high-consequence sites; and contracts that impose detailed insurance conditions. Use the list to find the parts of the work that need a clear answer in the quotation and policy.

Before opening a quotation form, find the information behind these answers: a complete copy of the insurance clause; site activities, turnover and subcontracting; and whether the insurer can provide the required evidence. A brief written clarification is easier to rely on than a half-remembered conversation.

If a customer requested the insurance, compare the certificate with the contract before sending it. Dates and limits should agree. If the answer is not clear, ask before the first job relies on the cover.

Points to think through

The risk becomes clearer when it is broken into real events:

• Work for major organisations
• High-footfall or high-consequence sites
• Contracts that impose detailed insurance conditions

Do not assume that a familiar accident is automatically insured. Conditions and exclusions still apply.

Use “work for major organisations” and “high-footfall or high-consequence sites” as checks on the quotation. Describe the position honestly and avoid choosing a lower figure or safer-sounding option simply because it reduces the premium.

“contracts that impose detailed insurance conditions” also deserves a direct answer. Use current records where possible and distinguish a known figure from an estimate.

When comparing quotations, set the business descriptions and endorsements side by side. A price difference may reflect a different view of the work.

Have these answers ready

Use actual business records where you can. The provider is likely to need:

• A complete copy of the insurance clause
• Site activities, turnover and subcontracting
• Whether the insurer can provide the required evidence

Check “a complete copy of the insurance clause”, “site activities, turnover and subcontracting” and “whether the insurer can provide the required evidence” against recent records. Some answers will be exact and others will be estimates. Where an estimate is needed, use a reasonable basis and keep a note of it.

Do not send sensitive records merely to prove a simple figure unless the provider asks for them through a suitable route. Usually the answer itself is enough at quotation stage.

Two reminders from this page are “do not promise contract compliance before documents are checked” and “a larger limit does not widen an excluded trade”; keep them beside the documents when you check the quotation. If the policy takes a different approach to “a complete copy of the insurance clause”, ask about it before the cover is needed and retain any written reply.

Keep the quotation record with the policy. If the wording describes a narrower business, ask why.

Look closely at these points

• Do not promise contract compliance before documents are checked
• A larger limit does not widen an excluded trade
• Ask about specialist contracts early

The certificate is only a summary. Use the schedule, wording and endorsements for the fuller picture.

One last read-through

Keep the quotation answers, schedule, wording, endorsements and certificate together. They are parts of the same record.

If the business changes during the policy period, ask whether the provider needs to be told rather than waiting for renewal.

Put the renewal date somewhere it will be noticed before any long-running contract passes through it. A customer may need an updated certificate, and the renewed policy may not use exactly the same terms.

Keep one further reminder with the quotation: ask about specialist contracts early; check how this affects the jobs you accept and ask for clarification if the policy takes a different approach.