Insurance for freelancers Insurance for freelancers

Freelancing is all about choice. Choose your projects, and work when you want to, right? Pick the covers you need, leave the ones you don’t. And adjust your policy if you need to, without fees.

Be quote confident. We'll beat the price of any like-for-like quote. T&Cs apply.

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What insurance do freelancers need?

Just like any business, freelancers need to consider how to protect themselves against risks as they work. Superscript offers a whole range of covers tailored to freelancers, including:

Other covers, such as business equipment insurance, legal protection insurance and cyber insurance are also popular choices for freelancers.

Be quote confident

We're big on fairness. So if you find a lower price for a comparable quote, we won't just match it – we'll go one better and beat it.

So even better than apples to apples, apples to better apples. We're talking Galas to Braeburns.

As you'd expect, T&Cs apply.

The best covers for freelancers

Professional indemnity insurance

Clients pay for your knowledge and expertise, but what if you make a mistake? This is what professional indemnity insurance is for. If your advice causes your client to lose money, you could face a lawsuit, with legal costs and compensation to pay. Superscript's professional indemnity cover comes with media liability cover as standard, which means you're also covered for accidental copyright infringement.

Public liability insurance

Whether you're working from a home office, a client's office or even out and about, public liability insurance provides protection for if you cause accidental injury or property damage to a member of the public while you're working.

Business equipment insurance

Whatever kit you rely on, be it a laptop, filming or other technical equipment, having it lost, stolen or damaged could leave you with a deep hole in your pocket. Business equipment insurance gives you the ability to have your broken or stolen equipment fixed or replaced.

Legal protection insurance

Unlike large companies with in-house legal teams, self-employed professionals don't have the convenience of specialist legal support. Legal protection insurance gives you access to specialist commercial legal support, a lifeline if you ever face a legal dispute or have questions about tax issues, such as IR35.

Cyber insurance

A cover often dismissed as irrelevant to smaller businesses and the self-employed, cyber insurance may be relevant for you, if your work involves handling a large amount of data, or taking card payments from clients. It provides protection in the form of specialist support and compensation legal costs in the event of cyber breach.

Benefits of business insurance for freelancers

1

Contractual requirements

For many freelancers, having certain types of insurance in place (such as public liability or professional indemnity) will be a pre-requisite to land a contract with a client company. Not having insurance could lose you work.

2

Professional cyber breach support

If you suffer a cyber attack, then as a freelancer you may not have the expertise to secure your data and devices. Superscript's cyber insurance comes with world-class breach response support to help you resolve the issue quickly.

3

Avoid unexpected repair and replacement costs

By having business equipment cover, you can go about your freelance work from home, in a client's office or out and about without worrying about the cost of repairing or replacing a damaged or stolen piece of vital equipment.

4

Professional credibility

Having sufficient cover in place means that your clients can maintain complete trust in your professional services, knowing that everyone is financially covered if an issue arises.

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.

Freelance insurance claim examples

There are many different situations in which you, as a freelancer, may require business insurance. Here are a few examples of claims where you could be liable:

Bad advice

As a freelance compliance consultant, you are hired by a company to advise them on operating within new regulations. Mistakes in your advice lead to the company being fined. Your professional indemnity insurance covers the compensation owed if a claim is made against you.

Stolen laptop

While you are working in a cafe on a freelance writing project for a client company, your laptop is stolen. Business equipment insurance covers the cost of replacing your stolen work gear so you can continue with your project (as long as you back up your work!).

Data breach

As a freelance CRM expert, a client hires you to run their mailing list and newsletter. A cyber attack causes a data breach and customers' private details are compromised. Cyber insurance covers any legal and compensation costs and provides you with professional breach support.

Accidential injury

As a freelance photographer, you are on a shoot when a loose cable from your lights causes a member of the public to trip and injure themselves. Your public liability insurance covers the legal and compensation costs you might incur in the event of a claim.

How do claims work for freelancers?

1

You make a claim

Log in to your online account and go to the ‘Make a claim’ section. There, you can make a claim directly – there's no need to call us.

We'll ask you for some details about your claim, including the date of the claim made against you, type of claim and its detailed description.

You can also attach any relevant supporting documentation like a letter of demand or a statement of claim.

2

We'll get on the case

Once submitted, your claim will be assessed.

If the claim is large, we may need more information from you. Alternatively, if it's small, it may be able to be settled quickly without the need for further information.

Either way, we'll keep you regularly updated and you'll be able to see the status of your claim on our customer portal.

3

Your claim is settled

After it's been assessed, we'll let you know if your claim has been successful or not.

If you’re liable for something we will assist you with legal support and cover legal and compensation costs where appropriate.

Freelancers insurance FAQs

What insurance do freelancers need?

Popular covers for UK-based freelancers include:

Other covers, such as business equipment insurance and legal protection insurance, are also popular choices.

Do freelancers need professional indemnity insurance?

Even though professional indemnity insurance isn’t a legal requirement for freelancers, clients will often require you to have it. Furthermore, the potential cost of a claim against you could be devastating, so you may decide that it's therefore worth having for this reason alone.

Do freelancers need public liability insurance?

Although public liability insurance isn’t a legal requirement for freelancers, it’s a popular choice for two key reasons: 1. Incidents leading to accidental injury and property damage cannot be predicted and can result in costly claims against you. 2. Some clients may expect you to have it.

Do freelancers need employers' liability insurance if they hire another freelancer to help with a project?

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement for any businesses with employees. However, the definition of an employee is someone that is on the payroll of the business and for whom the business is responsible for their tax and National Insurance.

A freelancer who pays another freelancer to assist on a project does not need employers' liability cover.

Are freelancers covered by a client's public liability insurance?

This depends entirely on the type of work a freelancer is doing and who the client is. If a freelancer is hired by a company to work in their offices, then the company's public liabilty may cover the freelancer's activity while on site.

However, it is good practice for freelancers to have their own public liability cover for any situation where their client's insurance does not cover them, such as working in a public space.

Is business insurance tax deductible for freelancers?

Yes. For freelancers, all business insurance premiums are considered as an 'allowable expense' by HMRC, meaning that you can write off the cost of your premium against your taxable income in your self assessment tax return. Just remember to keep a record of your payments as proof.

Is freelancer insurance a legal requirement?

No, freelancers are not legally required to have business insurance. However, without covers such as public liability, professional indemnity and business equipment cover, many freelancers would not be in a position to pay the costs associated with a claim against them or the loss of specialist equipment.

Boost your cover with legal protection insurance

Covers compensation awards, professional fees and legal costs associated with a range of legal disputes.

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