Public Liability Insurance UK Guide
Public liability insurance offers valuable protection against costly compensation claims and legal costs
Compare public liability insurance
Public Liability Insurance Explained
Compare business insurance for compensation claims by persons other than your employees
Public Liability Insurance FAQs
- What is public liability insurance?
- Who needs public liability insurance?
- Who does public liability insurance cover?
- Can you provide public liability claim scenarios?
- What duty of care do we owe the public?
- What is the cost of personal injury compensation?
- How much public liability insurance do we require?
- What is the Health and Safety Executive?
- Can you offer some guidance on risk assessments?
- Are public liability claims required to be accidental?
- Can you provide cover away from your premises?
- Do we require a public liability insurance certificate?
- How to compare public liability insurance cost?
What is public liability insurance?
The business insurance will pay legal costs incurred in defending allegations and compensatory damages arising from any judgment, award or settlement.
Public liability insurance definitions can vary, therfore it is worth considering the terms and features to consider what cover best meets your needs.
Who needs public liability insurance?
If your business interacts with members of the public (including any customers, suppliers, contractors) you have a duty of care to maintain a safe environment.
All businesses, whether they operate from offices, showrooms, warehouses or construction sites, should consider public liability.
Who does public liability insurance cover?
Public liability insurance will cover claims from any person, excluding your employees, with whom you interact as part of your business. Including, but not limited to:
Can you provide public liability claim scenarios?
Below are common public liability claim scenarios, with slips, trips and falls the most frequent:
|
Slips, trips and falls |
Exposure to hazardous chemicals |
Falling objects |
|
Inhalation injuries |
Burns or scalds |
Dangerous pathways |
|
Glass injuries |
Door injuries |
Lift / escalator accidents |
|
Whiplash injuries |
Hazard objects |
Crashes and collisions |
What duty of care do we owe the public?
- Invitees are members of the public (including customers, suppliers and contractors) who interact with your business at your invitation. Your duty of care is to take all reasonable steps to ensure a safe environment.
- Licensees are members of the public at premises with permission, but without invitation. Your duty of care may not be as high with invitees, but reasonable steps should be taken to ensure a safe environment.
- Trespassers are members of the public on your property without your permission. Your duty of care extends to them with the agreement to not create deliberate danger.
What is the cost of personal injury compensation?
The cost of defending potential personal injury claims can be significant, and you may not even be the cause of the alleged injury or illness.
The rate reduction from 2.5% to minus 0.25% reflects the current investment return available for lump sum awards required to compensate a person over a long period of time.
The example above identifies what a significant impact the change in discount rate has on the potential cost of personal injury claims.
How much public liability insurance do we require?
The limit you purchase will depend on your business activities, perception of the exposure and how much you are prepared to spend to mitigate the risk.
What is the Health and Safety Executive?
HSE's role as a regulator includes a number of duties including: offering advice, information and guidance; raising awareness of issues; operating permissions and licensing in high hazard industries; carrying out inspections and investigations; and taking enforcement action.
Can you offer some guidance on risk assessments?
If you employ five or more staff, you are required to carry out a systematic examination of your work activities and record the findings of your risk assessment. The HSE offer guidance and tools to assist with completing a risk assessment.
Risk assessments should form part of an overall risk management strategy to identify, evaluate and control potential threats to the business.
Are public liability claims required to be accidental?
If the word accidental is not used when specifying the insurance cover, there is usually an exclusion for injury or damage which results from a deliberate act or omission.
Can you provide cover away from your premises?
Some insurers will offer the option to provide cover while you're working away from your premises. This is typically provided to accommodate a wide range of business activities, such as construction workers.
Do we require a public liability insurance certificate?
Unlike a certificate of employers liability insurance, UK companies are not required by law to display a public liability insurance certificate.
How to compare public liability insurance cost?
We continue to see soft to stable market conditions for public liability insurance, driven mainly by an abundance of insurer capacity and stable claims environment.
It is common to purchase a package insurance policy, which includes employers liability, public liability and products liability, under one combined policy.
This guide is for information purposes and based on sources which we believe are reliable, the general risk management and insurance information is not intended to be taken as advice with respect to any individual circumstance and cannot be relied upon as such.