PXL Insurance are brokers for commercial property insurance. Here they advise one what you need to have covered in your insurance policy
Cover the assets, earnings and legal liabilities of your business to ensure you have protection against:
- Building insurance
- Tenants Improvements (if you are a tenant but have made improvements to the property at your own cost that you couldn’t take with you if you moved out i.e. decoration, flooring, partition walls, sanitary fixtures and fittings etc )
- Trade Contents Fixtures and Fittings
- Coverage for loss of drinks licence
- Home contents if you live on the premises
- Business Interruption to protect your income after an incident that results in a successful claim. You should request a level of cover that is more than your Gross Profit
- Public Liability for injury or damage to the public
- Products Liability to cover against causing illness from food or drink
- Employers Liability to cover any employees injuries, including damages, legal costs, and expenses
Some of the likely Conditions and Policy Warranties you should be aware of:
- Employers Reference Number (ERN). All insurers now request your ERN where Employers Liability cover has been provided. This is to help identify the relevant insurer should a claim come in down the line. If you do not know your ERN your accountant should be able to provide it for you.
- Electrical Certificate. It is very likely any insurer will expect that an Electrical Inspection of the fixed wiring has been carried out within the past 5 years by an accredited Electrician i.e. NICEIC or NAPIT.
- Flat Roof Warranty. If your property has any section of flat roof you should roughly work out the percentage of the flat roof and notify your insurer. This will likely result in a Flat Roof Warranty being added which will require you to have the flat roof and gutters checked every 2 years by a professional and a record kept, if there are any defects found they should be rectified immediately.
- Kitchen Ducting and Extraction Systems. If you do any cooking at the premises most Insurers will require you to have all your extraction systems and ducting to be professionally cleaned on an annual basis, this prevents a build-up of grease in areas your normal cleaning regime cannot reach. If a fire breaks out in these areas they are very difficult to contain, and the cleaning drastically reduces the chances of this happening.
- Deep Fat Fryers must be thermostatically controlled and manned at all times.
- Local Hygiene Rating / Scores on the Doors. More and more insurers will now only offer cover if a score of 2 or above has been awarded.
- Health & Safety policy. If you have 5 or more employees this is mandatory.
- Minimum Security. It is likely that any insurer will have a minimum security requirement, this is normally a 5 Lever Mortice Deadlock on any external doors (Fire Exits are exempt) and key operated window locks on any accessible windows.
- Duty of disclosure. It is your responsibility to disclose all the information requested by your insurer and anything you believe may influence their decision to insure you. If you disclose everything and adhere to the warranties / conditions you shouldn’t have any issues in the event of a claim.
- Things like previous claims, adverse financial history i.e. CCJ’s, Bankruptcies, Liquidations and Convictions can have a big impact on an insurers decision to provide cover, this applies to all partners, directors or significant persons involved in the running of the business. If an undisclosed detail is found during a claims process, its possible your policy could be voided from inception, meaning not only would the claim not be paid, but it could make it very difficult for you to obtain insurance in the future. If in any doubt discuss it with your broker.
PXL Insurance offer a range of insurance options to fit your business needs. Contact David Hawkesworth at dhawksworth@pxlassociates.co.uk