Office insurance is one of the many types of cover that UK insurers have many years of experience in underwriting. As a result, many, if not all, have designed a standard package type policy, for most types of risks. However, as many of us have found, whether you are talking about financial services or buying a physical product, not everyone falls into the neat compartments that companies would prefer. Who has not tried to get some form of car insurance and found the person on the other end of the phone saying, “I cannot find a category for you or your vehicle” or, worse still, “that postcode does not exist on my database”.
Business insurance companies are a more flexible and although we talk about package policies, there is still sufficient human intervention to allow you to get the right product at the right price. So, to the question of whether to take a package or not? In our experience, in over 90% of cases, a package is a suitable product. You only tend to need, or have a requirement, for a bespoke policy if you are undertaking wider activities than would normally be expected on an office (ie a computer consultant who undertakes heavy cabling work) or if your sums insured are sufficiently high to warrant an individually underwritten policy.
Most packages are for a total sum insured, including buildings if applicable, of up to £5,000,000. If the sums insured are in excess of this, then it is usually better, price wise, to get a bespoke commercial combined policy. The individual nature of these policies mean that the underwriters can effectively pick and choose the correct pricing to make them more competitive.
If you are offered a package, for whatever trade, you do still need to discuss with a business insurance broker whether it offers exactly what you need. Potentially some of the limits on the package may not be at a sufficient level for you and may need increasing. Usually with an office policy, you need to specify any portable equipment, ie smart phones and laptops. These need to be covered either in the UK, EU or Worldwide. Only through a thorough discussion wi