Self employment removes the employer who used to carry the risk, and liability insurance is how that risk gets carried instead. There are three liability covers in common use in the United Kingdom and they answer for three different kinds of harm. Buying the wrong one is a common and expensive mistake, because a certificate that says liability insurance does not tell a client which liability it insures.
Public liability: harm to other people and their things
This is the cover that answers when somebody who is not your employee is injured, or their property is damaged, in connection with your work. It is what a venue, a landlord, a site or a customer normally means when they ask whether you are insured, and it is the cover most self employed people in physical trades need first. It pays compensation and defence costs up to the limit you chose, and the limit is usually named by whoever asked.
Professional indemnity: money lost because of your work
If what you sell is advice, design, words, code or judgement, the loss a client suffers is financial rather than physical, and public liability does not reach it. Professional indemnity does. It is written on a claims made basis, which means it answers for claims brought while the policy is live rather than for work done while it was, so it has to stay in force after a project ends. Consultants, designers, bookkeepers and freelancers of most kinds are asked for it by contract.
Employers' liability: the one the law requires
A self employed person with no staff does not need it. The moment anybody is employed, including part time, casual or an apprentice, the 1969 Act makes it compulsory, and the Health and Safety Executive enforces that with penalties for each day uninsured. People taking on their first helper are the group most likely to miss it, because nothing about the working relationship feels like being an employer.
Being self employed is not a policy category
Insurers do not rate self employment, they rate the work. A self employed electrician and a self employed copywriter are underwritten by different teams on different wordings at different prices, and the only thing they share is the absence of an employer. That is why quoting starts with a trade description rather than an employment status, and why a generic self employed policy is really a package aimed at the low hazard end of the market.
Questions people ask about liability insurance for self employed
Do self employed people need liability insurance?
There is no general legal duty, with one exception: employers' liability is compulsory as soon as you employ anybody. Public liability and professional indemnity are demanded by clients, venues, landlords and contracts rather than by statute, which in practice means most self employed people end up holding at least one.
Which liability insurance do I need if I work alone?
Public liability if your work exposes other people or their property to physical risk; professional indemnity if clients rely on your advice or your output. Many people need both, and neither substitutes for the other.
How much does liability insurance cost when self employed?
The starting prices in the record on this site are what insurers print for their business liability cover, and they describe the lowest risk case. Your own price depends on the trade, the turnover, the limit and the claims history, so treat a printed figure as a floor rather than a forecast.
Is public liability enough on its own?
It is enough for the requirement most customers state, and it is not enough for every exposure. It will not answer for financial loss from advice, for your own tools or equipment, or for injury to anybody you employ.