How much does public liability insurance cost?
Calculating your public liability cover
Figuring out what cover you need for your business can be a stressful process. There are so many insurance companies out there, hidden under layers of jargon that can be hard to decipher.
At Superscript, we like to keep things simple and efficient. We're here to help you get the right cover as quickly as possible, so that you can get on with what you do best.
If you're a small business, our public liability insurance (PL) gives you the choice of three levels of cover: £1m, £2m or £5 million. How much you pay for your public liability is based on which level of cover you select.
If you're a larger or more complex company, you may need to speak to our broking team, as your insurance requirements may be higher and more complicated.
Read on to find out how we'd go about calculating the cost of your public liability cover.
What impacts the cost of public liability insurance?
Risk level
As with every insurance policy, you’re covering a level of risk. Usually, the bigger the risk, the higher the cost.
Higher-risk businesses include those with more staff, clients or complicated work involved. If your business is high risk, you're more likely to need to claim, which means that the cost of your cover will likely be higher.
Your industry
If your business involves lots of interaction with the public, contractors or suppliers, it's more likely to experience an incident leading to a claim. A restaurant, shop or bar, for example, is going to interact with the public more often than a business which is fully online.
The size of your business
The cost of your public liability insurance will also depend on how many employees you have and the type of work they do.
If you work on a building site, for example, there’ll likely be many people coming and going, including members of the public and your own team and contractors. Your employees will also be using specialist tools or even working at height, which can add to the risk level.
The location of your business
While the location of your business is less likely to have an impact on the cost of your public liability cover, there are some aspects of your business’s location that can change the level of risk you face.
For example, scaffolding being put up on a busy high street, in comparison to an unoccupied outhouse in the sticks.
Your turnover
If your business has a high turnover, it may affect the cost of your public liability insurance. A high turnover suggests more clients and interactions with suppliers, contractors and members of the public. It could also mean you have more valuable assets. These things could mean a higher level of risk for the insurer.
When you’re getting a quote for business insurance, you’ll be asked to calculate your turnover. It doesn’t need to be an exact figure, but to the closest £50,000.
Learn how to calculate your business turnover. Read our business turnover guide.
Your history
Your insurer will take into account relevant claims you've made in the past when calculating the cost of your cover. If you’ve made many related big claims in the past, this can sometimes mean you're more likely to make similar claims in the future, and therefore pose a higher risk.
While accidents happen, it's important to put processes in place to stop them from happening in the future. Creating a risk management framework can be a good way to do this.
Your excess
Excess is the amount you agree to contribute towards each claim. As with other types of insurance, the excess (or deductible) will impact your premium — the amount you pay for your cover on a monthly or annual basis.
A larger excess will often result in a smaller premium, and vice versa.
You don’t have to pay any excess on many of the policies bought through Superscript; however, this varies depending on the size of your business, the type of policy and level of cover you have.
If your policy includes an excess, you’ll be shown the amount in your quote before you buy your policy.
Once you've completed a quote, you'll be able to view a summary of cover. Please always refer to your policy documents for full details around exclusions, terms and limits of your customised cover. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents.
Read on
Our insurance guides answer more of your public liability questions.
What is public liability cover?
Discover what public liability insurance is beyond the definition, including whether it's a legal requirement.
Do I need public liability insurance?
If your business interacts with anyone who isn't an employee, you might want to consider public liability.
What does public liability cover?
Find out what public liability insurance actually covers, which may help you decide if you need it.