The Public Sector and Liability 

As a private business looking to work on public contracts you are expected to provide a number of things, including:

1. Evidence that your company finances are sound and in good order

2. Your company has experience in providing similar goods or services to other clients

3. Ability to demonstrate that you have equal opportunities and diversity policies in place

4. Your business' environment and community policies are in line with your buyers own policies

5. Your business has public liability insurance.

Whilst the first four are all important and largely common sense, for the purposes of this article we will just focus on the 5th point and why public liability for public contracts is required.

To put it simply - many public sector organisations look for a business that will deliver a high quality of service, which is one of the reasons they expect their suppliers to have public liability insurance. They know that if the company has its own public liability cover then that business is more likely to implement health and safety, carry out risk assessments and generally make sure that members of the public are protected from potential risks.

Example

If you own a building business that has been contracted to build an extension for a school then the headmaster will want to make sure that the pupils, staff and visitors are safe whilst work is going on. In this example not only is it essential that your firm is protecting people by assessing for risk and implementing safety procedures where necessary but you need to ensure your business is covered should the unthinkable happen.

To put this into perspective further - just ask yourself - would you hire someone who you didn't trust? It's practically the same thing - a public sector business wants to make sure that you're the right company to work with. You won't engender trust by disregarding the importance of risks posed to the public whilst you're at work. It really is that straight-forward.

If you're looking for more information on public sector contracts we recommend visiting the Government website to find out more.

Alternatively - if you're looking for more information on insurance for public contracts we also recommend reading - What Is Liability Insurance?