Commercial combined is a package of a popular insurance package designed to meet the needs of most businesses.
Instead of taking out individual policies with different renewal dates to cover multiple liabilities, commercial combined is a single, easy-to-administer policy that brings them all under one banner.
Table of contents
Businesses are increasingly looking for commercial combined cover to offer an integrated solution to their insurance requirements.
Read on to find out how commercial combined insurance works, why you need the cover and how much a policy costs.
What Is Commercial Combined Insurance?
Commercial combined insurance is a single policy offering several types of business insurance in one place.
Typically, this insurance will look after:
- Public liability
- Product liability
- Professional indemnity
- Employer liability
- Business interruption
- Money and goods in transit
- Damage to property
- Personal accident cover
However, many insurers will tailor the package to meet the needs of an individual business by adding or subtracting cover.
What Does Commercial Combined Insurance Cover?
Commercial combined insurance aims to protect a business with the most popular types of insurance.
Public liability
Public liability covers a business against compensation claims from customers and other third parties who may suffer an illness, injury or damage to property relating to the activities of the business.
Product liability
Product liability is similar to public liability, and both are often bundled together. Product liability protects a business designing, making, distributing or selling goods from compensation claims.
Professional indemnity
Does a similar job as public and product liability insurance offering specialist cover to advice-based businesses.
Employer liability
Staff are excluded from public liability cover. Instead, if they are injured or sick due to work, employer liability insurance picks up the compensation tab.
Business interruption
Business interruption insurance pays the bills when the business can’t due to a serious incident, like a flood, fire or theft of computer equipment. Additional cover can be tailored to your business, for example, any increased cost of working from setting up an alternate base in an emergency.
Money and goods in transit
This cover looks after money or goods that are damaged, lost or stolen while on the road between your premises and customers.
Damage to property
The property damage option for commercial combined insurance covers damage to buildings and damage to machinery, stock or electronic equipment, but not vehicles, which are protected by motor insurance.
Personal accident
Compensation for suffering an illness or injury that stops you or one of your staff from working. The money is paid to the injured worker or can cover hiring temporary workers or overtime.
Who Needs Commercial Combined Cover?
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from commercial combined insurance.
The cover offers all-round protection tailored to individual business needs, and as a package is generally cheaper than buying standalone policies.
Commercial combined works just as well for a sole trader as for a large company.
How Much Does Commercial Combined Cover Cost?
The cost of commercial combined insurance depends on the level of cover a business needs.
A policy for a sole trader with one employee costs much less than that for a company with thousands of workers.
Expect to pay between an average £50 to £500 a year for a commercial combined policy for a small business.
Commercial Combined Insurance FAQ
Usually contractors will have their own liability insurance and it’s a good idea to ask for a copy of the certificate. Businesses should also check the trading status of contractors, as under IR35 tax rules they can be considered employees and it is compulsory to have employer liability cover.
It’s difficult to tell who is reliable to do business with in the insurance world. Try checking out these points when choosing a broker or insurer:
– Does the insurer writing the policy have a good credit rating from Standard and Poor’s, Fitch or another reliable rating firm?
– Do the broker and insurer have a good reputation?
– Do they answer the phone and emails – if they don’t for new customers, they are unlikely to handle claims with good customer service
You can, but the process is time-consuming and you’re likely to have several policies with premiums due on different dates to manage. Commercial combined insurance is designed as a one-stop shop for your business needs, with one renewal date and one monthly premium.
Commercial combined insurance is the industry term for a bundle of business insurance policies like public liability, employer liability, buildings and contents cover.
Commercial combined insurance offers cover for multiple liabilities in a single policy
Related Information
Below is a list of related articles you may find of interest.
