Office 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. Terms & Conditions.

Stolen laptop? Damaged mobile? We'll replace your essential tech within 24hrs of claim approval, with Business Tech Essentials.

Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays

  • If your business changes, you can amend your policy and we won't charge you admin fees.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.

    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.

  • We won't be beaten on price. We'll beat your new business 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. Terms & Conditions.

An office insurance policy that you design yourself

We understand that every business is different and the risks associated with your business are not going to be the same as everyone else's. If you're a one-person enterprise running your business from home, you're not going to be looking for the same type of insurance as someone managing 20 employees in a rented office.

That's why Direct Line for Business provides flexible cover that can be tailored to suit your unique business needs. So, whether you're an accountant, a designer or estate agent, you can get insurance that is just right for your business.

Only you know what's right for your company, so rather than dictate what should or should not go into your policy, we put you in charge. Using our online quote tool you can select the different aspects of your business that you want to insure. This could include insuring your business against cyber security threats, damage to your equipment or claims made by clients you are giving advice to. See what different cover types you can include in your policy below.

A policy that allows your business to grow

Businesses evolve and change over time, and the type of insurance you take out while you're getting started might not reflect what your business looks like in a few years.

We don't want you to be stuck with a policy that no longer works for you. So, if you move to bigger offices, add new members to your team, buy expensive new equipment or expand your services, we'll let you amend your insurance without having to pay admin fees or take out a new policy. Your policy can grow with your business so that you can keep looking to the future.

Your cover options

You can include any of the following cover options in your insurance policy to get the precise cover your business needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

  • Professional indemnity

    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

    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.

    Read more about public liability
  • Employers' liability

    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.

  • Buildings 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.

  • Contents and equipment cover

    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.

    And now with Business Tech Essentials, if your essential tech is stolen or damaged, we'll replace it within 24 hours from claim approval.

    When you cover your electrical items and tech you get Business Tech Essentials. Which means if your essential tech - like laptops, mobiles or tablets - are stolen or damaged we'll replace them within 24 hours of claim approval.

    Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays.

  • Business interruption

    Depending on the type of business you run, you might work from home, in an office, at your shop, a client's premises or a shared working space. If your working premises became unusable due to an insured event like a fire or flood, business interruption will cover the costs of relocating until it's fixed. It can also cover you for any lost turnover during this time if you've insured your premises or business property with us.

    If your main supplier or customer suffers damage to their premises and can't trade, we'll cover you for the loss of business you'll suffer. Equally, if a market or fair that you regularly attend suffers a fire, we'll cover the lost turnover for the time you can't trade there. 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.

    Our business interruption cover can insure you if you or one of your key employees becomes seriously disabled and is unable to continue work. We will cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

  • Theft of takings

    Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen from you in transit, from a safe or on you while you're working at other premises, such as your clients' homes. Maximum limits apply.

  • Cyber cover

    If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online or just want peace of mind, Cyber cover should be considered. Because cyber criminals can be clever. Catching you off-guard and tricking you in to 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 devastating.

    But, with our Cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll be on it, helping you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:

    Recover financially

    • Covering loss of business income
    • Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration
    • Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs following a data breach

    Recover your reputation

    • You get access to public relations and crisis management experts to minimise damage to your brand and business.

    Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

    • Technical experts will help fix your IT issues and provide advice on how to prevent future cyber incidents.

    Read more on Cyber cover here.

    Available on new and renewal policies only. For Retail and Office & Professional customers only.

  • Legal expenses

  • Terrorism cover

    If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

    This includes:

    • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
    • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock, and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

    If you choose business interruption cover, you can extend this to include cover for reduced turnover and the costs of setting up elsewhere, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you not being able to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within 1 mile of your business.

    Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

    Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

    Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

    You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by adding it online or by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

Policy documents

If you have an existing quote or policy with us, you can view and download your policy documents from the My Account page.

We tailor all our policies, so your documents only show what you've chosen to cover.

Below is a summary of a generic policy, from 25 October 2020 onwards, which shows the main covers and exclusions in our policies.

How can we help?

Our virtual assistant is here to answer your questions. And in cases where it doesn't have the answer, we'll put you in touch with someone who can help.

Contact us

Opening hours:

  • Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm
  • Saturday 9am - 3pm
  • Sunday closed