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Electrician insurance

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .

Here's what customers say about our tradesman insurance.

  • We guarantee to beat your quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

    New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .

  • 0% APR on your monthly direct debit payments in the first year.

    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.

  • Download your policy documents instantly to show proof of your cover to clients.
  • Start a Tradesperson claim without the need to call.
  • Unlimited access to a 24-hour legal helpline and online legal documents service.

    Consult with a team of solicitors and legal experts whenever you need to with Legal Essentials.
    Document services and 24/7 helpline are provided by ARAG Legal Expenses Insurance Limited. For uncommon and certain country-specific areas of law, you'll be referred to specialist advisers available Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, excluding bank holidays.

  • No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.

    Hired an employee or bought some new tools? We don't charge you admin fees if you need to amend your policy.

Do electricians need insurance?

No matter how experienced or prepared you are, things can go wrong, and mistakes can happen. So, as an electrician or electrical contractor, you should always ensure that you have the necessary level of insurance to cover yourself.

Which insurance do electricians need?

At Direct Line, we understand that your insurance needs may differ depending on whether you run a business with employees or you're self-employed and work on your own. You might own your tools, plant and equipment or even hire them, but you may need different types of cover.

The different types of insurance that electricians might need are:

  • Public Liability Insurance covers your legal costs and compensation if you are held liable for injury to a third party or damage to third-party property while working.
  • Employers' Liability Insurance is legally required if you have employees working for you.
  • Tools and Business Equipment Insurance covers replacing your tools and equipment, including any electrical items if they are stolen or damaged.
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance covers any legal costs and compensation for financial loss or bodily injury caused by negligent services or advice that you have provided.

You can find more information about the types of insurance covers we offer below.

Electrician insurance that works for you

With over 500,000 business policies nationwide across various trades and professions, we understand the support you need. Choose from a range of cover options to create a bespoke policy tailored to your electrical business.

Some of the perks of being a Direct Line customer include:

Personalised insurance

Choose from a range of cover options to get a bespoke policy for your business.

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What are the risks of not having insurance as an electrician?

Operating without insurance as an electrician poses multiple risks, not only to you but to your employees - and potentially even your customers, too. As such, making sure that you have sufficient insurance as an electrician can be essential if you want to take care of your business. Cover such as Public liability insurance may compensate a third party (another person or business) if you are held liable for injury, or Employee Liability if they get injured at work and you're held liable. Here are some examples of when you may need cover for claims made against you:

  • Accidents or injury to other people caused by your work.
  • Theft or damage to tools and business equipment.
  • If an employee is injured whilst working for you and you are held responsible, compensation (including loss of earnings and medical fees) may be paid as well as your own legal costs.
  • Damage to a third party's property resulting from your defective workmanship.

Be prepared with electrician insurance

When you've spent time earning the specialist skills required to become an electrician and establishing your reputation, the last thing you want to deal with is an expensive claim against your business. But accidents can happen when you're working on other people's properties.

We can help you prepare for the unexpected by covering the risks you face as an electrician. You can include any of the cover options below in your policy. So, whether you work alone or run an established electrical contracting firm, you can get insurance that's just right for your business.

These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out building works on a client's house.

This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.

If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million.

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can read more about here.

We cover you for £10 million, as standard. This covers the legal and compensation costs you are required to pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

If you take out public liability or employers' liability insurance with us, you'll automatically get cover for temporary employees, if you use them.

The maximum number of days we cover temporary employees for will vary depending on the number of manual workers in your business.

  • 1 - 5 manual workers - 60 days
  • 6 - 10 manual workers - 100 days
  • 11 - 15 manual workers - 150 days

Please note that the maximum number of days reflects the total number of days worked by all of your temporary employees. So, if you have seven manual workers in your business, we will provide cover for 100 days worked by all temporary employees in total.

We know how important tools and equipment are for tradespeople. So, when it comes to tools insurance, we've nailed it.

Tools and Business Equipment cover

With this you're covered if they're damaged or stolen from:

  • your vehicle during the day if the vehicle is securely locked
  • a locked building, like your garage or home, anytime of day or night.

Policy limits and excesses apply.

With the Overnight Tools optional add-on (for an extra premium)

You're covered for theft of tools when they're locked in your vehicle overnight that's parked on your drive, the street or if you're working away.

Available on new policies only. Tools removed when the vehicle is not being used for business purposes for more than five consecutive days. Cover excludes electrical items such as laptops, cameras, mobile phones, removable satellite navigation systems, and handheld survey equipment. Cover limits and variable claim excesses apply.

What we cover

We cover power tools such as drills, hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, spanners, saws, pliers, trowels and blow torches. And equipment like ladders, steps, cleaning supplies, lawnmowers, paint trays, brushes, workbenches, and spirit levels.

Read more about Tools, Business Equipment and Overnight Tools.

If you're concerned about your tools getting stolen overnight, you can upgrade your tools and business equipment cover, by adding overnight tools cover for an additional premium.

Our 24-hour tools insurance covers your tools at home or in the van, wherever you are in the EU, as long as you are a UK resident.

In order to obtain overnight cover, when you get a quote online, you will need to answer 'Yes' to the following question: 'Our standard cover excludes theft from a vehicle overnight. Would you like to add cover for overnight theft of your tools and business equipment from a vehicle?'

Cover conditions: your vehicle must be secured at all points of entry and any alarms or immobilisers must be set. Tools must be hidden from view and removed when the vehicle is not being used for business purposes for more than five consecutive days. Cover excludes electrical items such as laptops, cameras, mobile phones, removable satellite navigation systems, handheld survey equipment etc.

Cover limit: there is a limit of £10,000 per claim and a single article limit of £1,500.

Excess: you will be liable for 10 per cent of each and every claim, with a minimum contribution by you of £100 up to a maximum contribution by you of £500.

Read more about 24 hour tools cover

If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.

Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This would cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

We can also cover your stock and materials, such as pipes, bricks, and paints. We can cover items that are being temporarily stored between jobs, items in transit and items on-site (until they are installed).

If these items are stolen or damaged, we'll pay the cost of replacing the items so you can continue running your business.

Cover limits:

  • Up to 5 workers - £10,000
  • Up to 10 workers - £20,000
  • Up to 15 workers - £25,000

Excess per claim - £100

This covers work that is in progress. We can cover the costs required to repair or redo the work.

For example, if you're a builder working on a house and a fire destroys part of the house five months into a six-month contract, we can help you to complete the contract by:

  • covering the costs required to purchase the materials needed to finish the job
  • covering the costs required to rebuild the parts destroyed by fire
  • covering any labour costs to repair the damage

Cover limits:

Contract value (based on the maximum value for any one contract anywhere within the UK)

  • Up to 5 workers - £750,000
  • Up to 10 workers - £1,000,000
  • Up to 15 workers - £1,000,000

Turnover limit - £1,500,000

Excess per claim - £500

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.

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.

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.

Policy documents

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 sign in to your account.

Here's an example of our latest tradesman insurance document, which shows our main covers and exclusions.

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