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Our specialist insurance for virtual assistants covers a whole host of risks facing virtual assistance agencies, freelance virtual assistants and virtual secretarial professions.
An error in a piece of work for a client, an injury suffered by a client visiting your office, or the theft of a computer containing confidential information could have a serious effect on your business. Our insurance for virtual assistants and virtual secretaries could cover your business against such events.
We can help you tailor your virtual assistants insurance. Our simple quote system asks about your business activities and offers you covers that may be of interest. You can choose to buy all or just some of the covers quoted, so you will only ever pay for the cover you need.
Cover at a glance:
- Protect your professional reputation and career
- Tailored insurance against a range of risks
- Includes liability and indemnity insurances
- Covers errors in admin support, scheduling and communications
- Suitable for freelance and remote-working professionals
What is virtual assistant insurance?
Virtual assistants’ insurance is a specialist cover designed to protect virtual assistants when providing professional services to clients. It is not a single insurance product, but a range of covers you can choose from to build a policy. Regardless of experience, mistakes can still occur.
As virtual assistants often handle sensitive information, manage business processes and produce work clients rely, even small errors can lead to significant financial losses for your clients. Markel Direct’s specialist cover enables you to select from a range of covers to meet your business requirements, so that you’re protected should the worst happen and a claim is made against your business.
Cover starting at
£5 a month*
*Price based on a virtual assistant requiring £1 million of public liability insurance.
Why do I need virtual assistant insurance?
As virtual assistants handle sensitive data, and a wide range of administrative, business and communication tasks for clients, even small mistakes can lead to potential claims from clients. If you make a scheduling error, lose important documents, or your work is alleged to be negligent resulting in a financial loss, clients may take legal action.
Virtual assistants’ insurance from Markel Direct is designed to protect you against such scenarios so that if something doesn’t go to plan, you’ll be covered. It’s important to remember that virtual assistant insurance is not just one product, but a choice of many forms of cover that enable you to exactly meet the needs of your business. From professional indemnity insurance to cover you against allegations of professional negligence through to office insurance, to ensure you’re not left out of pocket if your premises are burgled.
By ensuring you have the correct level of cover, you could be protected if a claim is made against your business.
Example policy documents
If you have an existing policy with us, please sign in to view your policy documents.
Below you will find examples of the documents provided.
Build a tailored virtual assistants insurance policy with these covers
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Professional indemnity insurance
Professional indemnity insurance covers the cost of defending your business against allegations of professional negligence (such as giving your client incorrect or wrongful advice) and if unsuccessful, the cost of damages awarded against you. This insurance is a necessity for virtual assistance businesses, and cover is available with limits ranging from £50,000 to £5m.
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Public and product liability insurance
Public and product liability insurance covers the cost of defending your business (including damages awarded against you if unsuccessful) if someone is injured, or their property damaged, which arises from you going about your business or supplying products. The legal fees alone could cost your business thousands of pounds. Limits range from £1m to £5m.
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Employer’s liability insurance
Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement if your business has employees. It covers your business against claims for injury or illness suffered by employees arising from their employment. If you employ other virtual assistants, you need this cover. Cover for £10m.
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Legal expenses insurance
Commercial legal expenses insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts and any damages subsequently awarded against you. Cover is also provided for the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. Limits range from £100,000 to £5m.
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Directors and officers insurance
Directors and officers insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts and any damages subsequently awarded against you. Cover is also provided in respect of the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. Limits range from £100,000 to £5m.
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Office insurance
Office insurance covers your office buildings, office contents and computer equipment against accidental damage (including theft) whilst on your business premises. You can also choose to cover your business equipment (such as laptops and mobile phones) on a worldwide basis, and insure your business against loss of income and/or additional trading expenses following events such as damage to your property.
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Occupational personal accident insurance
Occupational personal accident insurance provides a weekly payment if you are unable to work due to temporary total disablement (subject to a 14-day deferment period) due to an accident at work, or when travelling to and from work. In the event of loss of limbs, sight, speech, hearing, permanent total disablement or death, a lump sum would be paid out. You should consider this cover if you would struggle to maintain an income following an accident that left you unable to work. Limits from £100/week to £500/week for temporary total disablement (£25k lump sum to £100k lump sum for permanent total disablement).
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Cyber and data risks insurance
Cyber insurance pays the costs of restoring data and equipment, informing clients, meeting ransom demands and loss of your net profit following a cyber-attack. It also pays your legal defence costs and damages you are legally liable to pay to other parties. If you hold confidential information about your clients and their projects on computers and other internet connected devices, you should consider to this cover.
How it works
Choose the cover you require
Get a quote you need in minutes
Buy online or contact one of our advisors
How much does virtual assistant insurance cost?
The cost of your virtual assistant insurance will be determined by your cover needs. Factors such as the size of your business, how many workers you employ and whether you operate as a sole trader, partnership or limited company will be taken into account. At Markel Direct, we offer virtual assistants’ insurance from £5 a month for £1 million worth of public liability cover.
Ready to build your quote?
Our simple quote process will help you to find the right business insurance for your individual needs.
Frequently asked questions
These frequently asked questions are designed to help you and include questions relating to policy cover, pricing and ‘technical’ terms.
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I need professional indemnity insurance to secure a contract - do you provide proof of cover?
Yes. If you purchase your policy with us, your documents are emailed to you instantly and include a dedicated 'Confirmation of Liability Insurance' document (detailing the cover you have with us) which you can present to agencies and clients as proof of cover.
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Is my past work covered?
We cover past work if you have held professional indemnity insurance uninterrupted prior to arranging your policy with us.
If there was a period of time where you did not have professional indemnity insurance in force (for example, you have never arranged professional indemnity insurance before, you chose not to renew a previous policy or you cancelled a previous policy at the end of a contract) we are unable to cover past work.
If you require further clarification, don't hesitate to call us on 0800 640 6600.
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What's the difference between professional indemnity and public liability?
Professional indemnity insurance covers against allegations of professional negligence - which means it would cover you if you were to make an error or mistake in a piece of work (such as a project or report) for a client.
Public liability insurance covers against allegations of injury or illness caused to third parties by your negligence. This includes many of the slips, trips and falls that are associated with personal injury claims. In addition, public liability insurance covers against damage to third party property - for example, if you were to damage a client-owned laptop or smartphone.
As they insure against different scenarios, it's important you consider arranging both types of cover to ensure you are properly protected.
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What limit of cover should I choose?
Many clients and industry bodies with regulatory requirements will require you to have a minimum level of cover for you to undertake a contract, so it's worth checking this before you arrange cover. If you're unsure, give some thought to a worst-case scenario and the likely costs involved in putting your mistake right. We offer a range of limits on insurance, so you're sure to find the right cover for your business.
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Why should I choose Markel Direct's Insurance
Markel Direct has over 25 years of experience insuring contractors, consultants and self-employed professionals. We insure over 200,000 micro businesses and are highly rated by our customers at Feefo.com.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
To talk about your insurance requirements and better understand our cover, call us on 0800 640 6600 or get a quick quote online.
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How are Markel Direct regulated?
Markel Direct is a trading name of Markel International Insurance Company Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Find out more on the Financial Services Register.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
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