Self employed public liability insurance is bought for a reason most people meet before they understand it: somebody has asked for a certificate. That is a good reason, and it is not the whole one. Working for yourself means no employer stands behind a claim, and in an unincorporated business the claim reaches your own money, so the cover is doing more work for a sole trader than the same policy does for a company director.
Who asks, and what they ask for
Letting agents, commercial clients, market and event organisers, shopping centres, local authorities and main contractors all require evidence, usually naming a limit and wanting the certificate in the trading name you contract under. Some local authority licences make it a condition of trading at all. Almost nobody asks a domestic customer's permission first, which is why a self employed person can work for years before meeting the requirement.
The limit, when nobody has told you
One million pounds suits low hazard work in your own space. Two million is the general default for going into other people's premises. Five million belongs to managed construction sites and to work in buildings where a single mistake reaches many properties, such as flats. The premium difference between the three is small, and the right question is what you work in and around rather than what you turn over.
What it does not reach
It will not redo defective work, will not replace your own tools or laptop, will not answer for a client's financial loss from your advice, and does not cover anybody you employ. Those four gaps are a workmanship extension, an equipment section, professional indemnity and employers' liability, and employers' liability stops being optional the moment somebody is taken on, including part time and casual help.
Health and safety still applies to you
The Health and Safety Executive is explicit that self employed people whose work can harm others carry duties under health and safety law, and insurance does not discharge them. In practice the two travel together: the risk assessment, the safe method and the record of both are what a liability claim is defended with, and they are also what the law expects to exist.
Questions people ask about self employed public liability insurance uk
Is public liability insurance required for self employed people in the UK?
No statute requires it. It is required by clients, agents, sites and some local authority licences, and it is the only thing between a claim and your personal money when you trade in your own name rather than through a company.
How much public liability cover should I have?
One million pounds for low hazard work in your own space, two million for going into other people's premises, five million for managed sites and multi occupancy buildings. Where a client names a figure, that figure is the requirement.
Does it cover work I do for free?
Cover follows the business rather than the invoice, so work done in the course of the business is generally within it whether or not you charged. Genuinely private, non business favours are a different matter and are usually outside the policy.
What if I work in several different trades?
Declare all of them. Insurers rate on the work rather than on the job title, and an activity that was never declared is normally an activity the policy does not answer for. It is a question at quote and an argument at claim.