Personalised insurance for web designers and app developers

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

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We cover you whether you work from home, your office, at your clients’ premises or in a shared working space.
No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.
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 customer only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Customisable insurance for web designers and app developers

Whether you work the front or back-end, web and app development is a highly specialised profession. Your clients might not have a lot of experience when it comes to creating or managing online platforms, and may rely heavily on your expertise. While this means your work is sought after, it also means that if something goes wrong, you could be held responsible.

That’s why it’s important to have the right insurance in place, so if any of your clients believe you have been negligent and decide to make a claim, you’re covered.

There are many different areas that could result in difficulties for developers. Every day you deal with confidential data, vulnerable systems and other people’s intellectual property. Even the best programmers can make mistakes, so being prepared for the unexpected is a must.

For example, if you’ve been contracted to revamp a client’s e-trading platform and a coding error causes the whole site to lose function for a day, your client could potentially sue you for their lost earnings and reputational damage.

Fortunately, Direct Line for Business offers flexible insurance policies that respond to the specific needs of your business. You can pick and choose from a range of cover options to make sure you’re covered for the key risks associated with your line of work, without paying for insurance you don’t need. Just use our simple online quote tool to find out how easy it is to create your own policy.

What elements of my business should I cover?

Because of the fast-paced and competitive nature of your work, professional indemnity insurance is popular with developers. It can cover your legal fees and any compensation the court instructs you to pay in the event that you are sued for negligence.

It’s also important to consider covering your electronics. As a developer, having working computer equipment is critical to completing tasks. If something is damaged you’ll need to replace it quickly and this could be costly. If your equipment is lost, damaged or stolen, contents and stock cover will pay for the cost of replacing the items, so you won’t be out of pocket or needlessly delayed when you’re working to a tight deadline.

You also have the option to insure certain items when you’re out and about, ideal if you need to work on-site with a client.

See what you can include in your insurance policy below.

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or call us on 0345 878 5622

Get a quote call us on 0345 878 5622

Your cover options

Add any of these cover options to your Web Designer and App Developers’ Insurance to create a personalised policy that works for you. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

Professional indemnity

Professional indemnity covers the legal costs and compensation payments you are required to pay if a client makes a claim against you for professional negligence. They could even make a claim against you if you make a mistake.

For instance, if you use creative work that you thought was licensed under Creative Commons but it turns out to be under copyright, you could face an expensive legal hassle and embarrassed clients.
Public liability

If you accidentally injure your client or a member of the public, or damage their property, during the course of your work day, your business could be vulnerable to legal action. Adding public liability to your policy will cover your expenses if you are sued for damages.

This cover is especially key for web professionals that work face-to-face with their clients; for instance it would cover you if a client or member of the public tripped over your laptop cable and injured themselves. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million.
Employers' liability

If you hire anyone to help with your business, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement. This includes anyone you employ on a temporary basis. You can read about the exceptions to this rule here.

If someone who worked for you gets injured or becomes ill because of their work duties, employers’ liability will cover your costs if an employee makes a claim against you. At Direct Line for Business, we will cover you for £10 million, as standard.
Buildings cover

If an insured event, such as fire or flood, damages your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage so you can get back to work. Buildings cover can also pay for debris removal and any architects’ fees.

Our buildings cover also includes breakdown cover, as standard (for items forming part of the building). So if, for example, your boiler broke down, we would cover the cost of repairing it, so you can get your business up and running again speedily. The breakdown must not be 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.
Home emergency

Peace of mind, if you experience a sudden and unexpected issue, which can cause damage to your home, makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, home emergency's 24-hour claims line means help is never far away. You'll have a certified contractor, such as plumbers, electricians, glaziers, locksmiths, or drainage engineers at your home within 4 hours of your claim being registered, to make the property secure or prevent further damage. In addition, you have access to gas engineers, pest control services and roofers, but these are not subject to the 4 hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.

Up to £1,500 inc. VAT per claim for call-out charges, labour costs and materials for insured emergencies, such as issues with plumbing, heating or pest infestations.

You're also covered for overnight accommodation, up to £300 inc. VAT, if you can't stay in your home due to the insured incident. This isn't available if your home is a B&B, guest-house or hotel.

There's no excess to pay and no limit on how often you can claim.

You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy, so long as you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance or business contents insurance on your policy. It is available on new and renewal policies, it can't be added during the policy term.

Home emergency isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises.

For more information click here.
Business interruption

If your work premises are damaged by an insured event such as fire, flood or theft, business interruption will cover the costs you incur setting up elsewhere. It will also cover your loss of turnover if you can’t work.

If you have one main client, and their premises are damaged causing them to cease trading, business interruption will cover the loss of turnover from losing this client, up to a limit of £50,000.

Our business interruption cover can also 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.
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.
Theft of takings

If you deal in physical cash you need to insure against theft. This cover will pay out in the event money or cheques are stolen from you, your premises or anyone who works for you.
Legal expenses

This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers and clients.
Personal accident

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.
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.

Office policy summary (PDF)