A Guide to Care Home Insurance

In this section we look at some of the common business insurance protections features you will want in place for your care home. 

Buildings insurance

The rebuild cost - A care home is reliant on the premises and is most likely your most expensive asset. Buildings insurance exists to cover the costs for repairing damage right through to rebuilding - should it be needed. You should insure yourself for the full re-build cost of your property. Make sure you factor in any outbuildings, boundary walls, pools, fitted kitchens and bathrooms etc as well as the building itself. 

Care home contents insurance

• Care home contents insurance cover is there to protect the items in your building, belonging to the business. This means everything from office equipment to specialist care machinery such as mobility equipment. Service equipment such as lifts are required by law to be inspected annually, a good insurance provider can arrange these inspections (usually at an additional cost) as part of your protection plan.

• Employees’ and residents’ personal belonging can also be covered on a care home contents insurance policy. The amounts can differ though between insurers and policies. Resident’s high value items will likely need to be insured separately and don’t forget that personal cash is usually limited to £100.

Engineering inspection

• Service equipments such as lifts are required by law to be inspected on a regular basis, some annually and others bi-annually, a good insurance provider can arrange these inspections (usually at an additional cost) as part of your protection plan.

Public liability

This is to protect you and your customers. As the owner/manager you are responsible for making your care home as risk free as possible but accidents can still happen. Public liability insurance will cover your legal liability for accidental loss, damage or injury to a third party on your premises.

Employers' liability

This is a legal requirement for employers liability, usually for £5 million, although some policies will include limits up to 10 million. Employers’ liability insurance guarantees you have access to adequate funds should you need to compensate a member of your staff for an injury or damage from a situation you, as their employer, are liable for.

Business interruption

Should an insured event such as fire cause the business to run at an increased cost of working, you’ll be able to claim for the extra costs. For example, hiring extra staff or logistical costs if part of the building was out of action.