Do I need to cover subcontractors under employer's liability?

This is dependent on whether your subcontractors are labour only subcontractors, or bona fide subcontractors. Labour only subcontractors work directly under your supervision and use equipment, tools and materials that you have provided, and may use their own portable hand tools. As they work directly under your supervision, they are, in the eyes of the law, treated as employees of your business, therefore employers liability insurance becomes a legal requirement. Find out more about which subcontractors are covered under employers liability and which are not.

What is tool insurance?

Tool insurance can offer protection for your business equipment up to a value of your choice. Different insurers will offer varying levels of cover so you can tailor it to your needs.

If I leave my tools on site, are they covered?

All insurers will ask that you take reasonable steps to protect your property from theft or damage. Leaving expensive hand tools or power tools on site is risky, however if reasonable precautions have been taken to secure them, for example, locking the building that you are working in and controlling access through limited key holders, then these could potentially be covered. Find out more about Contractors Insurance and what is covered.

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What is contractors insurance?

Every contractor has their own area of expertise and must protect themselves against accidental injury to clients or employees, or damage to property that could leave the business financially exposed.

As a contractor, you will need to safeguard your livelihood against unforeseen events. You may be working alone, or in partnership, or employ a team to support you and your business. Whatever your needs, we can help you source the insurance that is right for your business.

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We understand the risks associated with working on site or at other people’s premises, whether they are commercial or private clients, and so we can help you tailor your contractor insurance to your business needs, we pride ourselves on exceptional service standards and will support you for the duration of your policy.

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Types of contractor insurance we can arrange:

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What insurance covers do contractors need?

Typically your contractor insurance would include a minimum of public liability cover, and can be further tailored to suit your business needs with additional employers' liability insurance, commercial legal protection, tools cover and even personal accident cover. If you are just starting up, then you can build your policy over time to reflect the needs of your business. Read more about what insurance contractors need.

Contractor public liability insurance

Contractor public liability insurance covers your duty to clients and members of the public for accidental injury or damage to their property. Cleaning business insurance for example, would cover you under the public liability section of the policy if you accidentally knocked a customer’s vase and it smashed on the floor.

Employers' liability insurance for contractors

If you have staff, then you have a legal obligation to protect them against injuries whilst they are at work. That's why employers' liability insurance can be added to your contractors insurance to protect you should you have to pay compensation for an injury to an employee caused by your business activities.

Contractor tools cover and personal accident cover

Tools cover can be built into your contractor insurance, to include hand held tools or power tools, or if you are using heavier machinery, you can add contract works cover to protect hired in plant, own plant and tools and temporary buildings. Personal accident cover can also be included to protect you as a business owner against accidents at work.

As a customer you'll get exclusive access to our Business Toolkit with resources from the experts and our Retail Rewards with discounts on big name brands.

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"I’ve used Premierline for my work insurance for a few years now. They always find me such competitive prices. As a small business owner I really couldn’t afford the prices when I looked online myself especially after having had no work for 7 weeks when Covid-19 first hit. So it was a huge relief to find a policy I could afford and be ready for when work started to pour in."

Mrs Bridger, Cleaning Contractor, Devon (Customer since April 2017)

"I rang Premierline just to check other insurance offers, after my sky high renewal from my previous insurer. The adviser was friendly and very easy to understand and talk to and he got me a fantastic deal. Very happy.”

Mrs McCall, Pet Shop, North Shields (Customer since January 2021)

"Overall, Premierline offered a great service in securing my annual Professional Indemnity insurance. It was a very simple process and everything was explained well."

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