An electrician's public liability policy is checked more often than any other document they carry, because the people letting them onto a site know what an electrical fault does. The cover answers for injury to other people and damage to their property arising from the work, and the limit is almost always set by whoever is admitting you rather than by your own assessment of the risk.
Why electrical work attracts the higher limits
The loss from an electrical fault is rarely proportionate to the job. A connection that overheats months later can burn a building, and an incorrectly terminated circuit can injure somebody who never met the electrician who wired it. Insurers and contractors both price that tail, which is why domestic work is written at one or two million pounds and site work at five, and why some utility and rail contracts ask for ten.
The certificate, and what it has to say
A main contractor checking a certificate is looking for three things: the business name matching the entity on the contract, the limit matching what the contract requires, and the period covering the dates of the work. A certificate in a personal name when the contract is with a limited company is the most common and most avoidable problem, and it is a genuine one rather than pedantry, because the policy answers for the insured named on it.
Part P, self certification and the defence to a claim
Notifiable work in dwellings in England and Wales falls under Part P of the Building Regulations, and most electricians deal with it through a competent person scheme that allows self certification. Registration is not usually a condition of the insurance policy, but the test certificates, the inspection records and the registration are the evidence a defective work claim is judged against, and an electrician who can produce them is in a materially better position than one who cannot.
What public liability leaves to other sections
It does not pay to return and redo work that was simply wrong, it does not replace tools, and it does not answer for the installation you had partly completed when the site flooded. Those are a workmanship or professional indemnity question, a tools section and contract works cover. Electricians who design or certify, rather than only install, should look specifically at professional indemnity, because certification is a professional act.
Questions people ask about electrician public liability insurance
How much public liability insurance does an electrician need?
One or two million pounds is normal for domestic work. Five million is the usual requirement for main contractors, housing associations and local authorities, and it is checked at the gate rather than taken on trust.
Does an electrician's policy cover faulty workmanship?
Public liability answers for injury and damage caused by the work, not for the cost of redoing the work itself. Some trade policies offer a defective workmanship extension, and design or certification failures belong to professional indemnity.
Do I need insurance to join a competent person scheme?
Schemes set their own membership conditions and several expect members to hold public liability cover. The Building Regulations themselves impose the technical duty rather than an insurance one, so check the scheme's rules for the requirement and its limit.
Should the certificate be in my name or the company's?
In the name of the entity that contracts with the client. If the client contracts with your limited company, the policy and the certificate should name the company, or the party the policy answers for is not the party that was sued.