What types of charity insurance do I need?
There are many different types of insurance available for charities, so it’s important to make sure your organisation has the right levels of cover in place to protect against any potential risks that could result from your charity’s day-to-day activities.
When approaching an insurer or specialist broker for charity insurance cover, you will need to let them know certain details about your organisation, such as:
- How many employees / volunteers do you have?
- Do you deal with third parties or members of the public?
- Do you rent, own or lease your premises?
- Do you need to insure any business equipment, such as computers, stock or furniture?
- Do you run events, either regularly or one-offs?
- Do you have a contingency plan in place should something happen to where you operate?
- Do you hold customer or employee data or use a computer to operate or have a website?
- What sort of activities do you provide to your service users?
This is a brief summary of the types of questions you will be asked for a charity insurance quote – for full details, get in touch with our specialist charity team on 0333 234 1358.
To help you decide what types of charity insurance you might need in place for your organisation, here’s a summary of the different covers available to you with Endsleigh.
Charity public and employers’ liability insurance
If you have employees, then it’s a legal requirement to have at least £5 million employers’ liability cover in place to protect your organisation against compensation claims resulting from property damage, injury or illness in the workplace.
Similarly, if you deal with members of the public - such as supplying goods or services - then it’s important to have public liability insurance in place to ensure you’re able to pay out on any potential compensation claims that result from a visitor accidentally injuring themselves or damaging their property.
Many charities are reliant on volunteers to keep things ticking over, but volunteers can also be a bit of a grey area when it comes to insurance. Depending on your insurer, volunteers will be covered under either the employers’ or public liability cover section of your charity insurance policy, so speak to them if you’re unsure to clarify what liability cover is provided for your volunteers.
Find out more about charity public liability insurance.
Do I need buildings and contents insurance for my charity?
If your organisation owns any buildings, or is responsible for the buildings under a maintenance agreement, your charity may also require buildings insurance to protect against physical risks such as fire, theft and flood. Charity buildings insurance with Endsleigh can be extended to include cover for accidental damage and subsidence should you need it.
Charity contents insurance can also be provided for any items that an organisation owns or are required to insure, such as audio visual equipment, computers and office machinery, stock, general fittings and sports equipment. Contents insurance includes cover against all risks, such as fire, theft and flood as well as accidental damage.
What is business interruption insurance?
This is an important area of cover that can often be missed - but not having business interruption insurance could have a detrimental impact on an organisation's ability to continue operating should disaster strike.
Business interruption insurance provides cover for an organisation if they are unable to continue operating as a result of an insured peril i.e. fire or storm. This insurance covers the loss of income or additional costs incurred following physical damage to your property.
What is professional indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity protects an organisation against claims made in respect of negligent advice given where a financial loss has occurred.
Advice can be anything from consultancy work, to providing guidance on completing welfare and benefit forms. You may find that if you are providing such services as part of a contract with a third party, that company may request proof of professional indemnity insurance. This can be provided for you if necessary.
Therefore, if you’re an organisation providing advice to individuals and/or third party companies, you may want to consider having a level of professional indemnity insurance in place, both to protect your organisation and to ensure you meet all third party requirements.
Charity legal expenses insurance
Legal expenses insurance provides cover for any defence costs an organisation may incur as a result of civil proceedings brought against them by a third party. This can include cover for contract disputes, employment disputes, legal defence and tax protection.
Many insurers provide a legal telephone helpline to charities giving access to free legal advice. Insurers often require organisations to ring the helpline number as soon as a potential incident is highlighted and to follow the advice that's given.
What is fidelity guarantee insurance?
Charities often have high turnover of staff and volunteers, which can make it difficult to really get to know people straight away. While this isn’t a huge issue for the most part, it can unfortunately leave charities somewhat vulnerable to employee fraud and dishonesty.
Fidelity guarantee insurance provides compensation to an organisation for any financial loss sustained as a result of an act of fraud or dishonesty committed by their employees.
Charity travel insurance
Often organisations will arrange activities such as conferences away from their offices, and sometimes these activities will also take place outside of the UK. Group travel insurance policies can be arranged to cover directors, trustees, employees and volunteers for any trips they make outside of the country.
These policies can not only provide cover for any medical expenses incurred, but also any loss or damage to insured property as well.
Find out more about charity insurance with Endsleigh.
Charity motor insurance
Motor insurance designed to make life easier for charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations. Get a policy that you can depend on for single or multiple charity vehicles, with extended covers to make sure you stay protected during the pandemic. We can provide cover for your charity vehicles regardless of vehicle type - including cars, vans, MPVs and minibuses. Our charity motor insurance is also provided on an “any driver” basis, meaning any of your staff are insured to drive the vehicles at any time, including volunteers - although there may be limitations based on age and driving experience.
Got a single vehicle or need mini-fleet insurance? We can cover those too! Just speak to one of our charity insurance specialists to arrange your cover.