Should you insure your new UK ltd company
March 14th, 2010 by chrisWhen you have just established your very own limited company, it can be almost too easy to be overwhelmed by the different things you need to consider. One of them can be whether or not you need insurance in order to protect yourself and your employees should things go wrong. In this article, we are going to look at different types of insurance which are purpose-built for businesses.
When a company goes limited, the businessperson who owns the majority shares in the company is no longer personally responsible for any actions his company may take – with the risk being secured to the assets of the company itself. Because of this, a limited company can need insurance in order to cover the costs that it may accrue in a number of circumstances.
Normally, an insurer charges a limited company a premium that is based on the past instances where they have dealt with claims from other businesses that are in a similar sector, and the severity of the claims that they have handled. This can mean that different organisations can offer you different premiums, cementing the importance of looking around in order to find the cheapest but most comprehensive deal.
One type of insurance is employers’ liability insurance, a type of cover which an employer must have – up to a sum of at least £5 million, or £10 million in some cases. Should a person who works with a company then proceed to become injured or ill through means that weren’t their fault (like faulty machinery etc.), they can then proceed to take action against the company which they may have been working for.
Public liability insurance can be another type of insurance that many businesses might be urged to consider taking. In these examples, a member of the public who is using a company’s product or service can sue if themselves or their property are damaged in any way, shape or form through an incident that isn’t their fault.
It can be important to ensure that any products that you may sell as part of your business are also safe for consumption. Product liability insurance can protect you in the case that your stock is dangerous – be it through a fault when you were manufacturing it, or a fault in the stock that you received from another company. There can be instances where you might not be answerable for the damages that a member of the public is claiming for, particularly if you bought the stock off another manufacturer and the batch was faulty to begin with.
Insurance can seem like a minefield and at times, it can be difficult to determine what types of cover are needed in order to ensure a business is fully protected from its liabilities. By consulting an expert who can tell you the ins and outs of the law concerning your activity, you can ensure that you are equipped to go into the big, bad world of business: fully protected.