Business Interruption Insurance
Tailored business interruption cover for when your organisation suffers an insured incident that stops or disrupt your revenue.
- Cover for up to 36 months to get you trading again
- Available online or by phone
- This is not a standalone policy but can be included as part of your business insurance policy.
Call us on 0344 892 1664 or get a quote online.
One of the UK's leading independent insurance brokers
Why choose business interruption insurance with Towergate?
Future-proof your business
Safeguard the future of your business if your property is destroyed by fire.
Tailored business protection cover
Get cover that is relevant to your business needs.
Reliable pay outs
Business protection insurance that pays out when you need it to.
About business interruption insurance
Business interruption cover for commercial property
If you are unable to use your shop, warehouse, factory, workshop or office after a serious fire or flood claim while damage repairs are taking place, business interruption insurance will help pay your continuing overheads such as rent and salaries. You can choose standard loss of income or gross profit cover, or alternatively restrict cover to increased costs of working only, as a complementary cover alongside your property damage insurance. You can buy online or speak directly to us for a personal service tailored to suit your needs.
Temporary premises if your commercial building is unusable
Business interruption cover can help in serious situations where it is no longer possible to continue trading at your premises due to the damage caused. It can offer financial assistance to set up somewhere else to trade on a temporary basis which will help minimise interruption to your business, and mitigate your reduction in turnover.
Cover for revenue loss due to fire, storm and flood damage
The policy can cover standing costs and overheads that continue if your trading is interrupted due to damage caused to your own premises, stock and equipment by fire, storm, flood or a range of other accidental insured events. We can tailor extensions for a variety of other events that could indirectly impact your ability to trade. Such situations can arise following loss or damage caused to surrounding buildings or even in the vicinity of your premises which then prevents access; or damage at the premises of a public utility service (gas, electricity or water). For some businesses failure of telecommunications will also be a consideration, as well as damage to utilities to terminal ends from the generating stations.
Business interruption calculator
We provide a free business interruption calculator for our customers to help reduce the risk of you being underinsured should your business be disrupted. This handy tool helps you calculate your sum insured more accurately over a variety of indemnity periods, depending on how long it will take you to return to the same level of trading as you were immediately before the loss event occurring.
When you need to make a claim, we'll guide you through the process and get your claim settled as quickly as possible.
- Find your insurance documents and make sure you have all your information at hand, including your policy number.
- Call the claims team on 0344 892 1384 and explain exactly what happened.
- Provide photos if requested to help us understand what happened as quickly as we can.
Ready to get covered?
- Fill in our online quote form or call us
- Purchase your policy
- Relax - You're covered!
Business interruption insurance FAQs
Business interruption insurance is part of a business insurance or combined commercial insurance policy, providing cover for those costs and overheads that will continue after an insured damage loss, resulting in a reduction in turnover. This is a very important cover that should be arranged by all commercial businesses to give peace of mind, and valuable financial support at the very time you need it most.
The sum insured you need depends on your annual gross profit adjusted for standing charges such as the purchases of stock, carriage and freight. Having established an accurate figure for your last 12 months trading, this will need to be adjusted for future projected changes during the recovery period.
Make an accurate assessment of the length of time it will take you to recover to the same level of turnover as you achieved before the loss. This is dependent upon many factors – your trade, construction of your property, any specialist equipment or processes, availability of alternative premises, This period is known as the ‘indemnity period’. We can offer cover for different periods, such as 12, 18, 24 and up to 36 months.
Business insurance can cover three main areas of risk which could impact your business:
Professional indemnity insurance (PI insurance)
If you are offering professional advice as a surveyor, accountant, insurance broker, civil engineer, architect, designer or any form of business management or IT consultancy – you will have a need for professional indemnity insurance. Unfortunately, errors and omissions can occur when giving advice, potentially leaving you exposed to high legal defence costs or financial awards.
Professional negligence can be very costly, and there is no limit as to how much a compensation claim could reach in the UK. Therefore, a serious case could see thousands or even millions of pounds rewarded against your business. Professional indemnity (PI) insurance protects by covering legal defence costs, should you be deemed as legally responsible for the poor advice, error or omission, then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. The limit is selected by you and options are available from £250,000 to £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.
Public Liability Insurance
It’s fair to say that if your business interacts with the public on a daily basis or your business activities are performed in a public area, you’ll want public liability cover.
Although how much you’ll need varies from business to business. It could mean protecting your business against a potential claim from a client, a customer or another member of the public in the wrong place at the wrong time that involves accidental bodily injury or damage to their property which you are deemed to be responsible.
Cover will include legal defence costs if the allegations are unfounded, otherwise if you are proven to be legally responsible for the accident then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. You select the limit including popular limits of £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.
Employers’ liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement in the UK if you have employees. Should an employee injure themselves or experience property damage during the course of their work, the business could be liable for compensation and legal defence costs. Employers’ liability insurance from Towergate covers these costs up to £10 million for any one claim.
Property insurance
Covers loss or damage to your property from fire and a range of hazards such as explosion, malicious damage, storm, flood, aircraft, impact, escape of water, accidental damage and theft.
- Buildings – the structure of the property including out-buildings
- Tenants' improvements – permanent additions or changes made by the tenant to a leased or rented property.
- Fixtures and fittings –fixtures are any items that are bolted to the floor or walls such as kitchen units, bathroom suites or boilers, and a fitting is any item that is free standing or hung by a nail or hook such as carpets and curtains, free standing ovens, fridges and washing machines.
- Electronic equipment – including computers and ancillary equipment, printers, copiers, phone systems etc.
- Tools and equipment – This includes handheld tools, power tools, plant equipment as well as computers and other electronic items.
- Machinery and plant - All other machinery, equipment and apparatus used to carry out your business activity (not otherwise included in other property definitions above)
- Stock – This includes raw materials, work in progress and finished stock.
Product liability
If you sell, supply, manufacture or repair products then you may need product liability insurance. Faulty or defective products which cause injury or damage to third parties, or their property, may instigate claims against your business even if the defect is not your fault.
Product liability insurance covers you against claims of this nature. Cover will include legal defence costs if the allegations are unfounded, otherwise should you be proven as legally responsible for the accident then the policy will pay compensation awards up to the policy limit. The limit is selected by you and a range is available including popular limits of £1m, £2m, £3m, £5m, £10m or higher depending on your needs.
Find out more about product liability
Shop insurance
Whether you need to cover the business only or if you require cover for your premises too, we can provide shop insurance with options to cover high value stock, unique glass shop fronts and tenants’ improvements.
A shop package policy is perfect for the small high street or village shop and will cover loss or damage to your property from fire, flood, storm and theft, etc. It provides valuable loss of income protection known as business interruption insurance, if you suffer a reduction in turnover as a result of the damage caused to your property.
As a shopkeeper you will want to protect your legal responsibilities towards your employees, customers and the general public for accidental injury or damage caused to them from business activities. This includes both on or away from your premises or arising from the sale of products.
Public, products and employers liability are standard features of a retail shop insurance policy.
Special considerations arise if you collect or deliver goods.
Find out more about shop insurance
Cyber insurance
A growing risk for many businesses is cybercrime, if any part of your businesses operates using the internet, you could be at risk of cybercrime too. Cyber insurance will help protect you against the financial impact cybercrimes can have on your business.
Find out more about cyber insurance
Directors and officers insurance (D&O cover)
Even the best laid plans can falter. If you’re in a position where your advice can affect the success of entire business, it’s best to have cover in place if things don’t go the way you thought, Directors and officers insurance will take the financial strain away if you are challenged legally due to your actions.
Business insurance can cover a variety of risks which could impact your business. If you have employees, you are legally required to have a minimum of employer’s liability insurance included on your policy. Thereafter, it’s up to you to choose the types of cover which match your risks.
What does business insurance cost?
Our business insurance covers businesses great and small against a variety or risks, or just a few, all depending on how you operate. Therefore, it’s tricky to give a ball park figure or even an average cost. What we can tell you is that we give you choices and retrieve quotes from a panel of insurers so you can choose the right policy, at the right price.
Find out more
Watch our video to hear more about our business insurance:
Our business insurance covers businesses great and small against a variety or risks, or just a few, all depending on how you operate. Therefore, it’s tricky to give a ball park figure or even an average cost. What we can tell you is that we give you choices and retrieve quotes from a panel of insurers so you can choose the right policy, at the right price.
Given the greater awareness of retention and liability/fraud risks, firms are generally quite good at reducing the impact of and managing risks. SMEs make up approximately 99% of the businesses in the UK. These businesses tend to be reliant on a few key people that really help drive the business and so the temporary or permanent absence of a valuable member of staff can have a significant impact on the continuity of your business.
Whilst indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement, many types of business offering a service, advice or consultancy need it, as having a compensation claim made against you for breach of duty can be very costly to defend. Our business indemnity insurance policies can include professional indemnity insurance. This will not just cover legal and defence costs, but the cost of a successful claim against you up to the policy indemnity limit selected by you.
To help you spread the cost of your premiums, we offer a quick and easy direct debit instalment scheme for spreading payment over ten months. Please visit our dedicated instalment Direct Debit page to find out more.
A variety of payment options are available and the interest transaction charge and annual percentage rate (APR%) vary according to the amount of the premium, the number of monthly instalments and type of premium finance scheme selected. We will give you full details of the additional amount payable, instalment amounts, number of instalments and APR when you ask us for a quotation.
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