Office insurance

Anything from a fire or flood to a break-in could result in thousands of pounds worth of damage. Our office insurance covers you for these risks and more.

We offer a range of different types of cover, including buildings and contents insurance, business equipment cover and business interruption insurance, to comprehensively protect your property against a multitude of risks. Each policy can be tailored to meet the individual needs of your business and our fast and easy office insurance quote system allows you to choose the cover you want at a price you can afford.

What is office insurance?

Office insurance is designed to protect your business against unexpected events concerning your workplace. This can include cover for damage to the structure of your building, as well as protection against the loss of or damage to your office equipment. It can also cover risks associated with members of the public and/or your employees, and risks to your finances and reputation.

Who needs office insurance?

f you have a physical office space, you can benefit from having both your building and its contents insured. Whether you experience a fire, flood, break-in or another unexpected event, you could be left facing major costs. As well as the expenses associated with repairing or replacing equipment, you are likely to suffer lost productivity, which in turn means missed deadlines, lost earnings and potential damage to your reputation. Office insurance can be tailored to protect you from all of these risks, as well as other dangers associated with your workspace.

We provide office insurance to suit the needs of any type of business, from architects to bookkeepers, IT consultants, estate agents, web designers and more.

What kind of office insurance do I need?

The kind of office insurance policy that you need will depend on the specific requirements of your business. Broadly speaking though, there are four main areas that you may wish to cover. These are:

• Premises and equipment
• People (including your employees and/or members of the public)
• Finances
• Reputation

What level of office insurance cover do I need?

At Markel, we make it easy to tailor your cover so that you have exactly the right level of protection. When deciding how much office insurance you need, you should take a variety of factors into account, such as the value of your assets and what a day of lost productivity would cost you. Please note that office insurance policies is only available to activities covered by Markel Direct.

If you’d like to discuss your options, don’t hesitate to contact us today.

• Buildings and contents insurance covers your office premises against accidental damage (including theft and damage caused by disasters such as fire, flood, explosion or storm) to office buildings, office contents and computer equipment. Few businesses could survive an incident that destroyed their premises and contents, so give this cover careful consideration (please note that buildings insurance is not available for homeworkers, but you can cover your home office contents).
• Business equipment insurance covers against loss, theft and accidental damage to vital equipment that you take with you while undertaking your business' activities, including laptops, smartphones, tablets and projectors.
• Business interruption insurance covers any loss of income (or increased costs of working) if you are unable to work from your usual business premises. This cover could save your business thousands of pounds if you have to be re-sited during repairs or if you cannot fulfil your contractual obligations.

Please note that buildings insurance is not available for homeworkers, but you can cover your home office contents.

Office contents insurance

When office equipment is unexpectedly lost or damaged, office contents insurance is there to ensure you and your business don’t lose out. Whether it’s as the result of an office burglary or break-in, or a damaged photocopier is causing you a headache, an office contents insurance policy will have you covered. The same goes for office chairs, desks, PCs, laptops and monitors, and much more besides.

Why choose Markel for office insurance?

At Markel, we understand the importance of having office insurance that meets the specific needs of your business. With over 30 years’ experience insuring small businesses, consultants, contractors and self-employed professionals, we know exactly what our customers are looking for. Here are just some of the reasons to buy office insurance from us:

✔ Cover starting from £5 a month*
We feel that our policies provide excellent value for money, which will enable you to find office insurance that fits your budget.

✔ Highly rated by customers
We provide insurance to more than 200,000 micro businesses and are highly rated by our customers at Feefo.com.

✔ Get a quote in 90 seconds
Getting a quote with us is quick and easy. Simply fill in our online form and we’ll provide you with the information you need in no time.

✔ Tailored office insurance
We provide tailored office insurance designed to suit the individual requirements of small businesses, freelancers, contractors, charities and community groups.

*The £5 a month premium referenced is based on property damage insurance with a £10,000 level of cover.

How much does office insurance cost?

At Markel Direct, we offer specialist office insurance from £5 a month for property damage insurance with a £10,000 level of cover*. The price of office insurance varies from business to business depending on;

• The size of your business - your turnover and whether you have any employees
• The level of cover you choose
• The value of your assets or contents you need to insure.

Do I need professional indemnity insurance for my office?

If your business offers advice or provides a professional service, you may benefit from including professional indemnity cover in your office insurance policy. For example, you may fall into this category if you handle client data, provide recommendations or deal with intellectual property. Professional indemnity insurance covers you if one of your clients suffers a financial loss because of your negligence. It’s also worth noting that some professional bodies require their members to put this type of protection in place.

Do I need employers' liability insurance for my office?

If you have one or more employees, unless you meet specific exemption criteria, you are legally required to have a minimum of £5 million of employers’ liability insurance in place. This type of cover protects you if an employee suffers an accident or injury while at work.

Do I need public liability insurance for my office?

If you have customers or other members of the public visiting your office, you should consider taking out public liability insurance. This type of protection is designed to cover the legal fees and compensation costs if a third party is injured in your office or their property is damaged.

Do I need business interruption insurance for my office?

An often-overlooked form of cover, business interruption insurance protects against the financial losses you would incur (or additional costs in working) as a result of an interruption to your business’ activities. For example, if your workplace was flooded and it took months to dry out, you would have to find an alternative workplace. This could have a severe financial impact on your business’ operations - including the additional costs involved in renting an alternative premises, or losing out on projects you can’t complete because you aren’t based in your normal workplace.

In short, if you feel your business would struggle to survive an interruption to its normal activities, you should give serious consideration to business interruption insurance.