New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .
Over 18s, subject to eligibility.
New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .
Life moves fast for contractors and freelancers, jobs crop up suddenly and you've got to have the flexibility to take on new work quickly. Whether you're moving from one company to another in a short space of time or handling a variety of projects for different clients, the last thing you want to deal with is any extra admin.
At Direct Line for Business, we offer flexible insurance that can be personalised to reflect the ever-changing needs of your business, so you don't need to take out a new policy every time your job changes.
We can cover you whether you work from home, a co-working space, at an office or a client's premises.
Whether you're a journalist or party planner, the freelance and contracting life offers a lot of freedom. However, being self-employed also means you're solely responsible for sorting out any disruptions to your business.
If your equipment gets stolen, the office you usually work in becomes unusable due to a fire, or someone makes a claim against your work, you will need to deal with the financial implications. Luckily, you can cover yourself for these potential disruptions with our business insurance for contractors and freelancers.
Using our unique online quote tool, you can select the different types of cover you need and create a personalised insurance policy that suits your line of work. This could include professional indemnity, which covers you if you're accused of making a mistake that costs a client money or causes them reputational damage, or public liability, which covers the costs you are required to pay if you accidentally damage someone's property or someone is injured by you or your staff.
There are many different things to consider when creating your insurance package: the type of services you offer, your premises and your equipment. Don't worry, if your circumstances change, or your business grows, you can amend your policy without having to pay any admin fees.
It's important to make sure all your documentation is in order as clients often ask for proof of insurance before a contract begins. When you insure with us, you can download proof of your policy the moment you set it up. Everything's online, so you can access your documents whenever and wherever you need them. Our documents only include the information that is relevant to you, so gone are the days of wading through pages of policy wording to find the bits you're covered for.
These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.
Professional indemnity is useful if your business offers a service or requires you to give advice to clients. If you make a professional error or give advice that is deemed negligent, you could be taken to court.
Professional indemnity insurance covers any legal and compensation costs you are required to pay. Clients will often ask to see proof of professional indemnity insurance before agreeing to work with a new contractor.
Public liability insurance covers you if a customer or member of the public is unexpectedly injured or their property is accidentally damaged, which leads to a claim against your business.
In most cases, if you've taken all reasonable precautions to prevent such incidents but still face a claim for injury or damage, we can defend you. This includes covering any compensation payments and legal costs if necessary. However, even if you're found to not have taken reasonable precautions and are held liable for damage or injury, we'll still arrange for the claim to be paid.
With Direct Line's public liability insurance, you can choose different levels of cover to suit your business needs. From £1 million to £10 million.
Here are some examples of what public liability insurance would cover:
Like most insurers, if the claim is for third party property damage such as a carpet, laminate flooring, TV, or kitchen hobs, any settlement considers the age and condition of the item.
You need public liability insurance if you:
Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can find out more about on our employers' liability page.
We'll cover you up to £10 million, as standard. This cover includes the legal and compensation costs you must pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.
If you rent or own an office, you may want to cover your office contents, equipment and documents. You can also cover your expensive electrical items in case of damage, breakdown (excluding wear and tear) or theft.
We also offer a cover option that allows you to insure these items on the go, which is helpful if you go on site visits or work at different places. If your work laptop fell on the ground and the screen cracked, we'd cover the cost of replacing it.
If you experience a sudden and unexpected issue that causes damage to your home that makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, the home emergency 24-hour claims line is here to help. You'll have a certified contractor, such as a plumber, electrician, glazier, locksmith, or drainage engineer, at your home within four hours of registering your claim to secure the property or prevent further damage. You'll also have access to gas engineers, pest control services, and roofers. These services are excluded from the 4-hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.
There is a limit of up to £1,500, including VAT, per claim for call-out charges, labour costs, and materials for insured emergencies, such as plumbing, heating, or pest infestations.
You don't have to pay any excess. There's no limit on how often you can claim.
You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy for an additional premium, if you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance, or business contents insurance on your policy. It's available only on new and renewal policies, and you can't add it mid-term.
Home emergency cover isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises or tradesperson businesses.
Business interruption insurance offers cover if your workplace is unusable after an insured event such as a fire, theft or flood. Whether you run your business from home, an office, a shop, a client's location, or a shared workspace, business interruption insurance can help cover any loss of income until your business can operate at the same level as it previously did had the damage from the incident not occurred. If you need to temporarily relocate due to this damage, we may also pay for the relocation costs if it's economically viable.
If your main supplier or customer's premises get damaged due to an insured event and they can't trade, we'll cover any loss of turnover for your business. We can only do this once their insurer accepts the claim and manages the repairs to their premises. Similarly, if there's an incident, such as a fire, at a location where your business frequently trades, and you can't trade elsewhere, we'll cover the loss of turnover for the time the premises are unusable.
Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.
If you, an owner, partner, director, trustee, or other essential employee of your business die or become seriously disabled as a result of an injury caused by accident and violent means, and are unable to continue working, we'll cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.
If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online, or just want peace of mind, cyber cover could be a good option to help protect your business. Cyber criminals can catch you off-guard and trick you into doing something you shouldn't, like opening an attachment in a fake email or finding a way through your cyber security. If this happens and they get their hands on your data or access to your bank account, the impact on your business could be serious.
But, with our cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll help you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:
Find out more about cyber cover.
Available on new and renewal policies for eligible retail, and office and professional trades. Cover is up to the limit in your policy schedule for all claims made in the year. You must follow our requirements for data backup, firewalls and antivirus protection. You'll find these requirements and all other terms and conditions in your policy booklet.
This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.
Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity. Including temporary or permanent hearing loss and loss of speech for tradespeople.
We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.
If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.
You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.
When you get a quote, we'll send you a personalised policy document that shows the cover you've chosen.
These can also be found when you log into your account.
Here you can find examples of our latest office insurance documents, which show the main covers we offer, plus exclusions.
Our virtual assistant is ready to answer your questions.
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