Office and professional

Businessinsure at Clark Thomson understands that office based businesses and professionals require insurance specific to their business. From busy offices to functions such as advice, design or skilled knowledge we can provide policies tailored to meet your needs.

When choosing office insurance its important that you have adequate cover, office insurance policies can provide various different covers packaged up and tailored to you these include:

• Your property including  your office premises, office contents , computer equipment including portable computers and breakdown
• It can provide cover to protect your income with business interruption, money and legal expenses
• and protect your liabilities with public liability, employers liability and professional indemnity

Interested in finding out more? As one of the UK’s largest independent insurance brokers, contact some of our dedicated staff and let us do the we do the hard work, to make it easy for you.

Most businesses will have property in some shape or form, whether you own your buildings, have lots of office furniture and IT equipment or just have portable laptops that you take home.

If these suffered a loss tomorrow could you easily continue to trade or replace these items if they were lost stolen or destroyed.

When looking at your insurance requirements its important not to overlook the small stuff and ensure you have adequate cover to include everything if the worse case scenario strikes.

Do you own the office premises that you trade from? if so these are a fundamental part of your business and probably a sizable asset to you need so you need to ensure you have the accurate cover in the event of a claim.

Things to consider when insuring a building:

• Ensure you have an adequate and up to date rebuild value
• Include Fixtures and fittings
• Consider the level of cover required

You can insure your buildings as part of your office package policy which will include covers like accidental damage, storm, flood and fire.

The contents of your business premises such as desks cabinets chairs etc.  should be insured in the event of loss destruction or theft and much like buildings it’s important to ensure you cover this for the adequate amount.

Don’t forget the small items as these may individually not seem like much but imagine if you had to replace everything the small things will soon add up.

Computer equipment are items that would usually be identified separately from your contents as these are seen as higher value or more theft attractive.

When you are calculating your sums insured for your computer equipment it’s important to note that this should include all ancillary equipment.

If you have laptops or mobile devices cover can be extended to include out with the business premises to the extent of worldwide if required.

Cover is provided in respect of loss or damage and can also be extended to include costs of reinstating data and computer breakdown which covers the cost of replacing or repairing your computer equipment in the event of an electrical breakdown or sudden mechanical breakdown.

Computer cover will often exclude normal wear and tear and loss or damage to equipment left in vehicles unless locked and out of sight.

Statistically most businesses, even the best ran companies would not survive a large loss such as a fire as they simply don’t have the resources needed to continue trading.  Having the correct insurance could make the difference between survival and closure.

Business interruption insurance provides cover in respect of your lost income as a result of being unable to trade due to an insured event that causes loss or disruption to your premises, and cover doesn’t stop when the property has been fixed. Business interruption continues to bridge the financial gap until your business is back in the same trading position it was in before the loss occurred.

If your business transacts with cash or cheques even if just a bit of petty cash or the odd cash transaction this may be the most likely thing stolen from a business and this section of the policy provides protection for this and will also include a compensation element for any bodily injury endured as a result of this theft. This is usually widely referred to as assault cover.

A Money section of an Insurance policy  will usually cover money kept in a variety of places such as in a safe on the premises a night safe and also is likely to set different limits depending on whether it is during or out with trading.

The policy is also likely to have two definitions of money:

• Negotiable
• Non negotiable

Negotiable money refers to any types of currency that can easily be transferred and used at a value in its current format for instance this would include cash, bank notes, credit cards, stamps, gift cards, phone cards etc

Non-negotiable money is currency that whilst it has a value cannot be easily transferred and used if stolen for example cross cheques.

Running a business requires a lot of interaction with service providers and customers, as a business owner you will be surrounded by contracts, agreements and requirements to fulfil and at some point you may need to seek legal assistance which can be very costly.

Legal expenses insurance can cover the cost of legal advice fees and the cost of defending a legal dispute in the event of a claim. This often includes employee disputes, contract disputes for the sale or purchase of goods or services provided, Health and safety investigations, HMRC tax enquiries and property disputes.

This cover can provide access to legal and tax helplines and will appoint where applicable a specialist lawyer to act on behalf of your business in the event that you are likely to win.

Public Liability insurance is one of the main insurance covers required to run a business and provides cover in respect of legal costs and compensation costs for third party bodily injury and third party property damage if your business is found to be at fault.

So what is covered under Public Liability Insurance?

• compensation payments to third parties for  injury or damage to property whether the incident occurs on your own premises or your customers.
• associated medical costs in relation to the claim.
• the cost of replacing or repairing the damaged property
• the legal expenses associated in defending a claim

For further information regarding Public Liability click here

Employers liability insurance is a compulsory insurance required by law and covers the cost and compensation for your employees in the event that they are injured or suffer a work related illness arising out of their employment with you. Each day without cover brings fines of up to £2,500

Cover is required if you have employees including volunteers, part time workers and temporary staff including work experience and students.

For more information on Employers Liability click here

Unlike public and employers liability, Professional indemnity insurance pays compensation and legal fees in respect of financial or professional losses to third parties as a result of negligence in a service or advice you have provided.

This cover is important for companies which give advice or provide a professional service or design to clients or those who handle intellectual property or client data.

Professional indemnity can be provided as a standalone policy or may also be included within your office package insurance. For more information on professional indemnity click here