Public Liability insurance

Firstly lets be clear there is currently no legal requirement for any self employed cleaner or owner of a cleaning business to have Public Liability Insurance (PLI), however as a service provider your customers can make a claim for compensation against you for any damage or injury that you may have caused and in today’s age of "compensation culture" it makes sense to protect yourself and your business from these costly claims which can run into thousands of pounds.

The purpose of Public Liability Insurance is to protect businesses and their employees against claims from customers or third parties for injury to person or damage to property resulting from business related accidents. The cover is limited and damage or injury caused through incompetence or bad practices may not be covered. These policies can also meet the costs of legal fees should you have to contest a claim in court or medical fees where an injured party requires treatment, but as with all insurance policies, the level of cover varies from policy to policy so it is vital when arranging PLI that you provide full details of your activities to ensure that you are fully protected in all circumstances.

The premium for the policy is calculated in a number of ways but is generally based on the level and extent of risk posed to people and property by your activities and the level of indemnity you require. The number of people/staff employed will also affect the premium.

The minimum recommended indemnity for domestic and small commercial cleaners is around one million pounds as this would cover even the largest of claims for compensation. However those cleaners who wish to cater for corporate and large commercial customers will require at least £5 million indemnity. Most large firms will not even consider employing the services of cleaners who have less than £5 million indemnity, some firms such as BT require at least £10 million indemnity before they would consider employing a cleaning contractor. So when taking out a policy consider your market carefully and check that you are meeting the levels of indemnity required to satisfy your customer’s needs.

Some insurance companies may offer discounts to cleaning contractors if they can demonstrate that all their staff are fully trained and qualified in their respective disciplines. Some cleaners associations also have agreements in place with insurance companies for special rates for their members so it in the long term a small joining fee may result in a substantial saving on the premium for PLI.

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