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Archive for the ‘office insurance’ Category

Office insurance package policies along with professional indemnity

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Anyone in business nowadays knows that individuals, customers and even suppliers are becoming more litigious. The law has been changed in recent years to make it easier for members of the public to pursue a claim against anyone they see fit. We have all had to see or listen to TV or Radio advertisements enticing you to take action against others. Although there has been a huge growth in the claims by individuals, we are also seeing increased activity from on business claiming against another.

One trigger for this has been the build up to the recession, the recession and it’s aftermath. When cash is tight and also king, more businesses are prone to make claims than to absorb the costs themselves. A second trigger has been the availability of legal expenses insurance. Many business insurance policies now include an element of commercial legal expenses cover as standard. It is therefore easier for businesses to pursue action, in the knowledge that they have cover in place to pay for the legal costs associated with this.

It is therefore important that you have adequate cover in force to protect you against such claims. For most office insurance policies, the legal expenses cover is included as standard. Overall limits of indemnity are usually around the £50,000 to £100,000 mark. In addition to legal expenses cover, you need to make sure that you have adequate liability insurance, both public and products liability. For most offices though, the fees or turnover are earned as a result of services that are offered. A physical product is not always provided. In these cases you need to consider, carefully, whether there is a need or requirement for professional indemnity insurance. Most of the standard package contracts will actually exclude this cover.

There are a few, and we mean few, insurers that will offer all of the covers under one contract. However, in reality it is much more competitive to get one contract for the office and one for professional indemnity. PI cover is for your professional negligence. Public and products liability operate where these is evidence of physical damage or injury. For example the computer that catches light or the person that trips over. Professional indemnity need not have evidence of a physical loss, but a financial loss. You provide advice, for a fee, and someone suffers financially if this is incorrect.

If you are worried about whether this is a requirement for your particular business, then you speak to an independent business insurance broker and get their opinion on whether this is a requirement for your business or not.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance advice, business insurance broker, office insurance, office insurance quote, professional indemnity insurance, professional indemnity insurance quote | Comments Off

Office insurance – declaring “manual” work away

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Office insurance, like pubs, restaurants, hotels, shops and salons, is something that most of the main UK commercial insurers have designed a package policy for. Rather than speaking to an insurer and saying that you need cover for contents and computers and business interruption and employers liability and public liability etc etc, insurers have package products which contain the normal covers that the particular trade would require.

For offices, the policies will include, or have the option of including, buildings, contents, stock, business computers, employers, public and products liability, money, goods in transit, portable equipment away from the premises (ie smartphones/laptops) and business interruption. This blog is concerned with public liability insurance, as part of an office package.

Public liability insurance covers your business for any accident, illness, disease or damage, caused to third party persons or property. Therefore, if someone comes to see you and trips over a loose cable, this is public liability, if you visit someone and knock a PC off a desk, this is public liability.

Now, the astute amongst you will notice that these are fairly far fetched claims and really unlikely to ever happen. But, these claims do occur, day in and day out and the cover is required. The more common cause of claims under public liability, is where there is an element of what the insurers describe as “manual work away”. Now, your definition of manual work and the insurers definition of manual work will probably differ. To add to the confusion, some insurers have different definitions of what is manual and what is clerical.

We have learned that the best thing to do is to advise the insurers of all activities to make sure you are covered correctly. In the main this will affect those office insurance policies for computer related trades. For example, we had a quote request for a computer hardware re-seller. When I asked about work away, they said they may do the odd installation. What is involved in the installation? Cabling, plugging in hardware and potentially work in a computer room. Now,. we have at least half a dozen insurers that would quote for the office package. Half of them will consider this manual work and the others will not. You are better to ensure that all of your business activities are declared. Please do not assume that your broker or insurer has a full understanding of what you do and more importantly that you are covered.

Posted in office insurance, office insurance quote, public liability insurance | Comments Off

Office insurance – trade all risks

Monday, December 5th, 2011

As the business insurance market continues to be tough, we are seeing a slightly worrying trend with the way alternative quotes are being provided. There are some people who think that a broker does not add sufficient “service” to warrant the commission that we receive. As an alternative, some people are going to the websites that “offer” to compare business insurance.

We are brokers for a lot of offices. Offices are ideally suited to dealing with their insurance, remotely, through a broker such as businessinsure. Over the 1o years we have been trading, a double digit percentage of our client base has been office package insurance. We have found that the competition for this part of our business is getting tougher and tougher. We are thankfully holding our own, but when an existing client goes on the net to look for their existing insurance renewal premium to be bettered, some of the websites do not offer like for like cover. We are faced with the phone call along the lines of “you have quoted me £x but I have a quote online for £y”. When we ask the customer to allow us the opportunity of looking at their alternative, we find out that it is not on the same basis.

The biggest difference is that many of the alternative quotes do not include the all risks items. These are the electronic pieces of equipment that you take with you out and about and the same pieces of equipment that people drop, crack, spill coffee on and get stolen. They are the biggest source of claims. But, you would be amazed at the amount of quotes that do not include this. Whatever type of cover you have, you are more than likely going to need this type of cover. Particularly office insurance. Yes, you may be able to get a cheaper quote but you really do need to check that it is on a like for like basis. We have even had a claim for an ipad that was dropped in the bath, paid within four days by the insurers. Now, does your policy provide for that sort of cover?

Posted in business insurance quote, business insurance quotes, office insurance, office insurance quote | Comments Off

Getting a business insurance quote – the best way?

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

I had the misfortune to have to use an online business insurance quote comparison site. I shall not name names, but there was a reason for me having to use it. One of our existing clients, who we have worked with for around five or six years, sought an alternative premium at renewal time. They had a new employee who said that they could save money by looking around.

The problem was, that they chose to do this online, with no human interaction. It is a small office policy that we cover for them, they have a single location and £20,000 of servers in a secure central London location. We offered renewal at a very reasonable premium of £2,055.97. As we have mentioned in previous posts, we are conscious of the need to treat customers fairly at all stages of our relationship with them, which includes renewal. I sought three alternatives, one insurer wasn’t prepared to cover the servers at a 3rd party location and the two others were nearer to the £2,500 mark. I received a call from our contact who said that they had a quote for £1,600.00. Although they did not come out with it, there was the underlying message that they felt we had been overcharging them as they had managed to get a quote at 20% less. Managing the situation as best I could, I bought a few hours to respond. This was when I found out that they had got an online office insurance quote from a comparison site. When I asked for and received the quote, I was a bit angry to say the least.

The new employee had tried their best, but the quote they received did no offer accidental damage, did not offer portable equipment cover (ie laptops) and more importantly did not mention the servers. I got their permission to phone and discuss the quote. During the discussion I visited the website in question, you had to actually check the summary of cover, in a different pdf file, to see that accidental damage cover was not included, unless you asked for it. After making all of the relevant changes, the quote was £3,000 plus.

This was a result for us, the customer realised that the personal service you get from a human being who is also a business insurance broker, makes all the difference in the world. These online sites are the bane of my business life. They sell on price alone, with cover being secondary. How you can offer a business insurance quote without accidental damage is beyond me. The problem will be, if customers try to make a claim and this is then turned down, it is the industry as a whole that gets tarred with the same brush.

Businessinsure, as you can probably guess, can offer you a competitive office insurance quote, with accidental damage cover.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, business insurance quote, business insurance quotes, office insurance, office insurance quote | Comments Off

Employees personal effects cover.

Monday, July 4th, 2011

We have an ongoing office insurance claim at the moment. It is, unfortunately for the insurers, one of a growing type of claims by the criminal fraternity. Any building that has scaffolding up is at an increased threat of break in, as are the buildings in the vicinity. It is nothing new of course, but we have seen a significant rise in claims of this type over the past 18 months.

With office insurance policies, they have what is called, full theft cover. The means that there need not be evidence of a break in (or break out), which applies to most business and commercial insurance policies. Therefore, the office that decides not to lock it’s windows, because they are on the upper floors of a building, even though there is scaffolding, are still covered. Some of the more difficult insurers around will try to say that the insured was not taking due care. But, most of the mainstream ones will happily pay a claim.

But, what happens to employees personal effects. Many employees leave things, such as clothin or electrical goods at their place of work on the odd occassion. This means that when there is an opportunistic break in, there is a fair chance that if it is worth anything, it will be nicked.

Now, insurers will look for there to be cover under a home policy, but the chances are that an employee may not have a policy for personal effects cover, away from the home. So, it quite rightly should fall under the office insurance policy. You should just check that you have this cover, and importantly for how much. An office of 50 people is not going to get very far if the personal effects sum insured is £250, which one insurer has in their wording. What you are looking for is a limit per employee or a higher overall limit.

As with everything, speak to an independent business insurance broker who can help you sift throuhg the good, the bad and the ugly as far as quotes and policies are concerned.

Posted in business insurance, office insurance, personal effects insurance | Comments Off

Office insurance – product liability

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

We are seeing more and more office insurance quotes, where there is an increased product liability exposure. This occurs where an office based business is, to all intents and purposes, acting as a wholesaler. They may not actually hold the full amount of stock, as this is warehoused. What they will do is have a basic amount of day to day promotional stock. This can be anything and everything. The two quotes we have had this week have been for a farm machinery dealers office and a computer resellers.

Normally, you would approach a business insurance broker and they would get a simple, basic office quote. Now, if you are a dealer, what happens if one of the products that you supply causes injury, illness, disease or damage? You may well think that you can pass this liability on to the company that supplied the machine, or computer, or book or whatever else you sell.

However there is a potential problem. Firstly, you may not be allowed to do this contractually. Deep in the terms and conditions of the sellers may be a clause that says they are not responsible for damage or injury caused. Secondly, they may not have insurance in place and thirdly, they could go bust or out of business by the time you want to claim. Whether you like it or not, in each of these 3 scenarios, your company will be expected to pay the claim. You cannot simply rely on a basic office package to pick up your liability in this case.

You need to speak to your broker and get them to advise you as to whether you need to take out, what is effectively a contingency cover. You will need to declare your turnover, where you source the products from, where you export to and importantly, what type of products. It is not that insurers do not like imported products, but that it is much more expensive to pursue a claim against an overseas manufacturer.

Posted in business insurance, office insurance, office insurance quote, products liability insurance | Comments Off

Office insurance – stock holding

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Online retail insurance policies prevent a bit of a difficult choice for some insurers. In the olden days, they had shop policies that were designed for high street premises or locations with a “shop front”. As the internet continues to grow, we are seeing more and more growth in the online retail area. We are not in any way saying it is easy to trade in this manner, but if you want to set up a website to trade online, for less than £100 and a few hours work, you could technically be up and running.

If you trade from home, you can usually get a home business insurance policy that covers your stock and liabilities. However, many internet retail businesses now operate from small office premises. Whether this is a sign of the recession (in that there are more office premises up for rental) or not, we can’t tell. But we are getting more and more quote requests for businesses that run a retail website, trade from an office and keep thousands of pounds worth of stock in that office.

So, do we quote it under a shop or office insurance policy? It all depends on the nature of the stock, the security and how much stock is stored. We need to be careful that you not only have cover for the stock itself (ie theft, fire, flood etc) but in addition you get the required liability cover.

We had just such an enquiry where the customer was selling fancy goods, glassware and trinkets. They said that there was no liability risk, but if we did not at leats recommend that thye took out products liability cover (which they did) then we are failing in our service to them.

Most insurers are happy to cover these types of risks under both retail and office contracts. If you are looking for a quote, please call us to discuss.

Posted in business insurance, internet retailers insurance, office insurance, office insurance quote, online business insurance quote, shop insurance | Comments Off

Laminate flooring – buildings or contents?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Anyone who has recently had a business insurance claim may understand exactly what this question is all about.

If you have a buildings policy and separate one for contents and there is a loss, which damages both the contents and buildings, then you may find insurers arguing the toss about what they are responsible for.

We have an ongoing claim under an office insurance policy at the moment. A pipe burst behind one of the plaster walls, with enough pressure for the water to force it’s way, horizontally, through the plaster. The insured did the right thing and called the fire brigade who turned off the water in the street. I wont say where it is, but if they had phoned their local water board the chances are that it would still be flooding today.

Anyway, the water was off, emergency pumps were used to get the water out of the property (basement) and the insured then decided to pursue a claim. One of the items that they are claiming for is a damaged laminate floor. They tried to claim for the walls and ceilings as well but we have told them to speak to their landlord. The landlord insurance policy insurers are saying that the laminate floor is not part of the buildings. But, if it is fitted to the building and you would not take it with you when you go, then it is part of the building and should be covered as such.

Carpets, fall under contents, they always have and always will. Although they are “fitted” you can easily pick them up and take them with you when you go.

If you have a contents policy, please make sure that you have an item on it for tenants improvements that you may be responsible for. If you are in any doubt, please speak to your business insurance broker for advice on what you need, and can, cover.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, office insurance | Comments Off

Office insurance – public liability at £5,000,000

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

If you are working for another company, or government body (including local authorities) you will probably find that you are asked to complete a pre-contract business insurance form.

What this asks, is that you provide details of all of the current insurance covers you have, which will need to be at the levels that the form requires. The form will contain, as an absolute minimum, the three levels of liability cover, employers, public and products.

Anyone in business will know that you must have employers liability insurance in force if you have any employees. What is less well known is that the law says this must be at a limit of indemnity any one claim of £5,000,000, whereas most insurers automatically provide this at £10,000,000. Hence, the form will state that you need £10m.

As far as public and products liability is concerned, most will request that you have a limit of £5,000,000. Whether you need this cover (at this limit) or not is immaterial, if you want the contract you need to have the cover. Most UK office insurance policies have cover automatically at £2,000,000.

The good news is that if you increase this from £2m to £5m (a 150% increase) the premium does not increase at anywhere near that sort of level. A typical small office insurance policy, that has an annual premium of £500 will only increase by 10 or 15% if the liability levels are increased.

The real costs can occur if you are asked to increase the public liability from £2m to £10m. Most insurers are only happy to provide a limit fo £5,000,000 in one “hit”. Asking them to accept the potential of £10,000,000 (albeit very rare) is too much. This is where we need to go to a different insurer to get the extra £5m. Typical premiums (annually) for this, cost around £550.

Posted in business insurance, office insurance, office insurance quote, public liability insurance | No Comments »

Office insurance – additional covers

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Office insurance, in the UK, is sold via a “packaged” policy in the main. What this means is that the insurers produce a policy that includes the standard types of cover that they think you will need, as a trading office.

This will include the basic covers such as business assets, ie your computers, electronic office equipment, furniture and if necessary the building the office is in. As well as these basic covers you will usually have cover included for money, business interruption, employers, product and public liability and goods in transit.

As well as these standard covers, there is one other important, sometimes optional, one to consider. This is commercial legal expenses insurance. GO back ten or fifteen years and no insurers included this cover. As the UK has become more and more litigious, we are seeing more and more claims. The important thing is that liability insurance covers the cost of fending off spurious claims. Just because someone alleges you have been negligent or not followed correct procedures, it does not mean that they are right.

This is why you really need to consider having legal expenses cover. As an option to add to you office insurance, this is usually a very cheap option, some insurers will include as standard, others will charge just £25 per annum. When you look at the potential costs of responding to, dealing with, fending off and possible settling a claim, this amount is peanuts in comparison.

However, just becuase it is peanuts, it does not mean that you automatically get the cover included. If you have a policy in place at the moment, the best thing to do is to speak to your business insurance broker and ask them, outright, do you have the cover and if not, why not?

As an alternative, you can give Businessinsure as call and we can offer you a comparable quote to your existing cover, including legal expenses.

Posted in business insurance broker, commercial legal expenses insurance, office insurance | Comments Off