“Public liability insurance is designed for professionals who interact with customers or members of the public. It protects against claims of personal injury or property damage that a third party suffers (or claims to have suffered) as a result of your business activities.” AON Insurance Brokers
You Must Have Insurance
To hold a stall at our events (and many other craft fairs and events) you are required to hold Public Liability Insurance. This covers you for injury or damage caused by or in connection to your business.
The chances that you will cause lasting damage to someone are of course on the whole fairly minimal, but the way I think about it is that if someone did trip over my stall and break their neck, they might want to take me to court in order to claim enough money for their health care needs, so I would rather pay a few quid a year than have to sell my house, and my CDs and my guitars and my soul to pay for that. It’s the responsible thing to do – for you, your family, and for your customers. Get yourself some insurance !
Remember that Public Liability Insurance only insures you against injury or cost to the public. It does not cover you for loss of product. If you want more comprehensive cover you need to discuss this with your insurance broker. Home insurance is not covered by this article, but is also worth mentioning here that running a business from home can invalidate your home insurance if it’s not been declared to home insurance company.
Below is a short list of Insurance companies for you to investigate. Please be aware, these are suggestions only, and not recommendations. I’m not an insurance expert – very far from it – and cannot personally recommend any of these companies. You are responsible for doing your own research as to what will be best for you and your business.
Specialist Art and Craft Cover
A-N Artists Information Company: membership includes Public Liability Insurance, but you MUST make sure that you meet their criteria for membership or you may find you are not covered if you need to make a claim. Doesn’t cover you for sales outside UK, so if lots of your sales are, it’s probably not the one for you. It is very good value for money though, if you fit the criteria.
Ian Wallace Insurance also specialise in craft business insurance. They also give short period insurance, so if you only want it for a weekend, they can do this.
Craftcover is insurance specially tailored to art and craft microbusinesses. It is done through insurance brokers (Walmsleys Commercial Insurance Brokers Limited) who will give you a quote based on the information you give about your business. If you for instance, sell a lot online to the US, tell them this, and you will be covered for this.
Other
Craftspeople and artists also cite Direct Line insurance and the Clear Group insurance brokers as companies they have used to cover their craft business
Design@HEART 