Public liability insurance advice?

Krackingtoast

Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone with knowledge could please advise me a bit about public liability insurance?

Basically I have just started working for a nightclub photography company which requires me to have my own public liability insurance. It is only a few hours on a friday and saturday night but I do need the insurance, especially as I only started last week and found many drunk people grabbing at my camera (:mad:).
I also am trying to start a small greetings card business and intend to do craft fairs which also requires me to have my own public liability insurance.
At the same time I have started doing studio portraits in my home.
I haven't been charging anyone yet as I need to build up my portfolio first but do intend to in the near future.
I am about to register as self employed.

Does anyone know if I can get public liability insurance to cover all of the above in one policy?

As this nightclub thing is only 6 hours a week (£36!) I'm not sure it will be worth continuing if I have to get a separate insurance policy as it would be a month or so before I get any money back and it isn't something I intend to do long term anyway.
The craft fairs will also only be occasional.

Thank you, any advice is greatly appreciated as I am just starting out and know nothing about this sort of stuff yet!

mikey72

Krackingtoast wrote: »

......... but I do need the insurance, especially as I only started last week and found many drunk people grabbing at my camera ........

Public liabilty will cover you if they fall over trying to grab the camera, and they sue you.
(It won't cover you or the camera if they fall on you though)

Quentin

Krackingtoast wrote: »

Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone with knowledge could please advise me a bit about public liability insurance?

Basically I have just started working for a nightclub photography company which requires me to have my own public liability insurance. It is only a few hours on a friday and saturday night but I do need the insurance, especially as I only started last week and found many drunk people grabbing at my camera (:mad:).
I also am trying to start a small greetings card business and intend to do craft fairs which also requires me to have my own public liability insurance.
At the same time I have started doing studio portraits in my home.
I haven't been charging anyone yet as I need to build up my portfolio first but do intend to in the near future.
I am about to register as self employed.

Does anyone know if I can get public liability insurance to cover all of the above in one policy?

As this nightclub thing is only 6 hours a week (£36!) I'm not sure it will be worth continuing if I have to get a separate insurance policy as it would be a month or so before I get any money back and it isn't something I intend to do long term anyway.
The craft fairs will also only be occasional.

Thank you, any advice is greatly appreciated as I am just starting out and know nothing about this sort of stuff yet!

A local broker (not swinton) should be able to arrange a catch all PL policy to include all your business "ventures".

But PL won't cover your equipment/possessions from theft/damage etc!

mikey72

Swintons did mine.

Krackingtoast

Oh right. I was (naively I guess) thinking that my camera would be covered if someone knocked it out of my hand and it smashed. Maybe it isn't worth doing the job at all then. I can see an accident happening at some point judging by the amount of people on Saturday night literally trying to grab it of my hand saying "lemme take a picture of you."

Krackingtoast

Quentin wrote: »

A local broker (not swinton) should be able to arrange a catch all PL policy to include all your business "ventures".

But PL won't cover your equipment/possessions from theft/damage etc!

Thanks, I'll have to go and have a chat with someone about it, I guess it isn't as easy as just buying a policy online in this situation but at least it seems possible.

InsideInsurance

You can buy online but I suspect you will struggle to find an online insurer that will allow you to have both multifaceted PL cover and property cover only for a camera outside of the business premises. If you were to buy the two separately then some of the online SME providers could deal with the PL and there are specialist camera insurers for the property cover.

Be aware if you are doing the portraiture at your home that you can have all host of problems with home insurance, mortgage/ lease and/ or the council

vax2002

It can also INVITE a lot of claims that would not get passed the solicitor on the phone.
The first question they ask, is what insurance do you have, if the answer is none, they ask the person claiming for sizeable down payment.
Most chancers fall at this hurdle.

another point is if you are "working" for this company, they tell you where to go, what to do, pay a set wage for that work, then I think it may be them that need the insurance, they are pulling a self employment fiddle.

olly300

There are companies out there who will give you multi-faceted PL insurance online but they tend to be linked to only one or two underwriters, so you are much better of seeing a proper broker who can search the market for you.

Also if you intend to have a studio, have photographic equipment, craft equipment and stock you need to insure you are better of talking to a broker who may be able to arrange a package for you.

Your normal home insurance is likely to be invalidated by you having customers to your home. You can have affordable business insurance at home to cover working from home, a limited amount of stock and a limited amount of equipment but once you start having customers at home it changes things. (Without the stock you can now normally get it added on for less than £50)

To be honest unless you can separate your actual home from your studio and it allows people with disabilties to enter, then you are better of hiring somewhere and doing shoots outside. This will also stop you from having trouble with your neighbours and no issues with the council over how much of your home is business premises.