A Guide to Care Home insurance
A simple guide to care home insurance. We explain the features, exclusions and optional covers that are usually found in this type of business insurance. From public liability and contents insurance to the more specific care industry covers like medical malpractice insurance - find out what you need to make sure your care home insurance is right for you.
Do I need care home insurance?
Here is a list of some of the care organisations that could benefit from a specific care home insurance policy.
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Elderly residential
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Elderly With Nursing
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Dementia
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Retirement Villages
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Adults
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Adults with Learning Difficulty
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Adults Physical Disability
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Adults Mental Health
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Adults Supported Living
Specialist policies for home care services, hospices, charities and many other care providers are available too. See the related policies section in this guide or view the care & medical insurance section on our website.
Simply put, standard business insurance doesn’t include vital protection against the specific risks of the care industry which could leave your service users, staff and business vulnerable. While some insurance providers could patch together various policies to cover your liability, buildings, contents etc, this will likely leave holes in your cover for things like:
Medical malpractice insurance - This is a vital cover which protects against claims for example if a staff member was to administer the wrong medication.
Infectious disease cover - Cover against break out of infections is an important protection for most businesses operating in the care industry. Towergate offer cover against all known diseases, but whoever you get insurance with, make sure it offers the widest protection possible.
Flexible liability cover - While most policies will include public liability cover at £5million as standard (our policies do this too) there are times when you may need to temporarily or permanently raise this limit to £10million in order to tender for a public contract. Try to find a policy which offers you flexible limits meaning you can raise (and lower) the amount you’re covered by. This will stop you from missing out on quality contracts that require higher levels of liability.
Residents contents The personal belongings, valuables and money belonging to your residents are covered in this section. As an example we cover your residents for valuables up to £1000 per person, pedal cycles, £250 and personal money up to £100. All other items are included within the sums insured you set. These levels can differ between policies so make sure you check what you’re covered for.
Tips on getting the best cover
Building and tenant improvements – Maintaining and modernising a care home is a full time job. As you grow, add new equipment, make repairs or add extensions make sure you re-calculate you building and contents ‘sum insured’ levels accordingly. Without being careful you could exceed the amount you are covered for which could have a negative effect if you needed to make a claim.
Personal accident – In the care industry standard can’t be allowed to slip. But if a personal accident is keeping a member of staff off sick extra pressure is added to the rest of your work force, creating stress. Personal accident cover on your care home insurance policy can cover you for increased costs of working due to an absence of this kind, helping you to pay for replacement staff and keep your standards up.