Public liability insurance, cleaning business

KRDmum

Asking for a friend who's about to start her cleaning business. She's googled public liability insurance and was overwhelmed with all the info and rather expensive quotations, too many to choose from, so she gave up in the meantime.

I said I'll ask the question on this forum and hopefully give her some good a few insurance companies to choose from. So any help will be much appreciated

Pennywise

That's what brokers are for. Most people can sort out their home and motor insurance themselves as it's pretty simple, but when it comes to business, you really need someone to help sort out exactly what you need and then sort the wheat from the chaf to find it. No reason at all why the cost will be much, if any, higher using a broker than going direct, and at least you'll get what you need and won't find yourself uninsured or paying for cover that's not applicable!

dacouch

Public Liability for cleaners is slightly unusual, you need to have your eyes open as not all brokers understand it so may miss advise you.

The cheapest type and the type inexperienced brokers will offer you is the off the shelf type. A good broker should highlight that two different types of cover are available and explain the differences.

This will typically cost circa £80 for a sole trader for Public Liability only with you contributing circa £300 towards a claim (The excess)

It specifically excludes cover for the item you're cleaning at the time, so if you're polishing an expensive Vase and drop it. Then it's not covered, if however you're hoovering the floor and the cable knocks the Vase over it's covered. Another example would be if you're hoovering the carpet and the hoover rips the carpet, that's not covered but if you were walking through the living room with a bottle of bleach in your hand and it dripped on the carpet it would be covered.

The more expensive policy will cost circa £300 to £500 but will cover the item you're cleaning at the time eg the Vase. This typically has you contributing £250 to £500 towards a claim (The excess)

The first policy may well be suitable for your friend, but it's important that she understands what she's buying.

Also check what extras the policy includes, some will include losing the keys eg the cost of replacing the locks in the house / office.

There are a few companies offering the second type of policy, here's one
http://www.camberfordlaw.com/cleaning

If she has an employee, the above prices will increase about £160 to include the extra risk of an extra person and to include Employers Liability Insurance

KRDmum

dacouch wrote: »

Public Liability for cleaners is slightly unusual, you need to have your eyes open as not all brokers understand it so may miss advise you.

The cheapest type and the type inexperienced brokers will offer you is the off the shelf type. A good broker should highlight that two different types of cover are available and explain the differences.

This will typically cost circa £80 for a sole trader for Public Liability only with you contributing circa £300 towards a claim (The excess)

It specifically excludes cover for the item you're cleaning at the time, so if you're polishing an expensive Vase and drop it. Then it's not covered, if however you're hoovering the floor and the cable knocks the Vase over it's covered. Another example would be if you're hoovering the carpet and the hoover rips the carpet, that's not covered but if you were walking through the living room with a bottle of bleach in your hand and it dripped on the carpet it would be covered.

The more expensive policy will cost circa £300 to £500 but will cover the item you're cleaning at the time eg the Vase. This typically has you contributing £250 to £500 towards a claim (The excess)

The first policy may well be suitable for your friend, but it's important that she understands what she's buying.

Also check what extras the policy includes, some will include losing the keys eg the cost of replacing the locks in the house / office.

There are a few companies offering the second type of policy, here's one
http://www.camberfordlaw.com/cleaning

If she has an employee, the above prices will increase about £160 to include the extra risk of an extra person and to include Employers Liability Insurance

Thank you for a very detailed reply dacouch! I will surely pass the info onto her. She will be working by herself only, with no future plans to employ anyone else, which I suppose makes it a little bit easier.

dacouch

KRDmum wrote: »

Thank you for a very detailed reply dacouch! I will surely pass the info onto her. She will be working by herself only, with no future plans to employ anyone else, which I suppose makes it a little bit easier.

Depending on what type of cleaning she does, the cheaper policy may be suitable, but it's important she understands what cover she's buying and more importantly what it does not cover