Legal protection insurance
Also known as legal expenses insurance, this cover gives businesses without an in-house legal team access to legal expertise in the event of a claim or other dispute.
Be quote confident. We'll beat the price of any like-for-like quote. T&Cs apply.
What is legal protection insurance?
Cover your commercial legal affairs as efficiently as large organisations with in-house legal teams.
- IR35 and tax enquiries
- Legal advice helpline
- Compensation awards
- Certain legal disputes
Is your business raising and scaling?
Our specialist brokers provide custom cover for high-growth tech companies with complex risks — from web3, fintech, medtech, blockchain, VC firms, SaaS and more — whether you're at seed stage or IPO ready.
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.
Benefits of legal protection insurance
Protection for your employees
Tax enquiries, employees being summoned for jury duty, damage to property caused by trespassers — these situations can all come with costs. Cover yourself and your employees from the many events that can occur with commercial legal protection.
Protection for business owners
Legal action can be taken against you or your business if you dismiss employees without following the correct procedure or if you have contract disagreements with clients or suppliers. Payments for court fees, inquiry expenses and court attendance costs are included in this policy.
Protection from costly disputes and inquiries
Should you be faced with VAT disputes, tax enquiries, compliance disputes with the HMRC, or need help from tax consultants, this insurance is designed to cover all the payments necessary to help you get back to business.
Legal protection services
Find out about the services included.
Legal advice service
Legal advisors can provide confidential legal advice over the phone on any commercial legal problem affecting your business, under the laws of any European Union country, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Switzerland and Norway. The Legal Advice helpline aims to provide immediate advice from a qualified legal advisor.
The legal advisors provide advice on the laws of England and Wales 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. For advice sought about an area of law beyond this jurisdiction, or in respect of very specialist matters, you'll be referred to a specialist advisor.
This will include European law and certain areas of law for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Specialist advice is provided 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public and bank holidays. If calls are made outside these times, they will call you back.
Tax advice service
Tax advisors offer confidential advice over the phone on any tax matters affecting your business, under the laws of the United Kingdom. Tax advice is provided by tax advisors 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public and bank holidays. If calls are made outside these times, they will call you back.
Counselling service
Counsellors can provide your employees (including any members of their immediate family who permanently live with them) with a confidential counselling service over the phone including, where appropriate, onward referral to relevant voluntary and/or professional services.
The counselling service helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Note that any costs arising from the use of these referral services are not covered by the insurance.
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.
What we can't cover
We'd love to be able to cover every eventuality but, as with all insurance policies, there are some things we cannot cover.
For example, we’re unable to cover any claim where your appointed lawyer doesn’t believe you have more than 50% chance of winning. We’re also unable to cover any legal issues that began before the start of your cover with us.
For full details of the inclusions and exclusions, please refer to your policy documents. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents to bust through the jargon.
Legal protection claims
Legal protection claims are different for every type of business, but here are a few examples where commercial legal cover might come in handy.
Unfair dismissal
A former employee claims you didn’t follow the correct redundancy process. Commercial legal cover can provide expert counsel, and cover any legal costs involved.
Contract dispute
A photographer you hired permanently deletes the photos you paid for without delivering them. Commercial legal cover can provide legal advice to resolve the issue.
Confusion over tax
You submit your company tax return to HMRC but realise it’s incorrect. Commercial legal cover can provide specialist tax advisors to support you.
Legal protection insurance FAQs
What is legal protection insurance?
Legal protection insurance, also known as legal expenses and commercial legal protection, gives businesses access to legal expertise in the area of disputes. This means that businesses without specialist in-house legal expertise in this area have support on standby, in the even of a dispute.
What does legal protection insurance cover?
The support offered by legal protection insurance is designed to cover a range of business disputes, including claims against your company and disputes launched by your business against third parties, like clients or suppliers.
It also includes legal support with tax disputes, which is particularly useful if you're self-employed.
What are some example scenarios which would make use of legal protection cover?
The law is there to protect you and those around you, but unless you're in the legal profession, it’s not always easy to decipher who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong, or to defend your corner effectively. And there are plenty of grey areas. That’s why if you find yourself caught up in some kind of legal dispute, you’re likely to need some expert advice from a professional.
Here’s just a couple of situations where commercial legal cover might come in handy.
- Employment disputes are extremely common, and they can occur whenever an employee feels they haven’t been treated fairly, or contrary to employment regulations. If a former employee makes a claim of constructive dismissal against your business, or if you didn’t go through the correct redundancy procedures you might be faced with an employment tribunal and anny associated costs. In this situation, commercial legal cover could provide your business with expert counsel and cover any legal costs involved.
- A dispute could occur if a company or individual you’ve entered a contract with doesn't perform their duties fully or as agreed. Imagine a photographer you’ve hired delivers the photographs in the wrong resolution and then permanently deletes the original files leaving you out of pocket and without the photos you paid for. Working out the best way to broach this issue is likely to require legal advice, which could incur unforseen costs.
Is legal protection insurance tax deductible?
Yes, the cost of your business’ legal protection insurance premium can be written off as a business expense against tax in the UK.
Is legal protection insurance a legal requirement for UK businesses?
Legal protection insurance is not currently a legal requirement for businesses in the UK. The only cover legally required for most companies is employers’ liability insurance.
Why choose Superscript?
Cover for over 1,000 types of business
Five-star customer service and claims support
Flexibility to adjust your policy without fees
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Authorised by the FCA
The FCA supervises UK financial services firms to protect consumers. We are directly authorised and regulated by the FCA and our Firm Reference Number is 656459. These details can be confirmed on the Financial Services Register at www.fca.org.uk or by calling the FCA on 0845 606 1234.
A-rated financial strength
Our insurance products are underwritten by Standard & Poor’s A-rated financial strength or higher. This means the underwriter has been independently assessed by the world’s leading credit rating provider and found to have a strong capacity to meet financial commitments (pay claims).
Protected by the FSCS
If you are a business with an annual turnover under £1m, charity with an annual income under £1m, or trust with net assets under £1m, then you will be entitled to compensation from the FSCS in the unlikely event we cannot meet our obligations. Full details and further information on the scheme are available at www.fscs.org.uk.