Thank you to everyone that submitted questions about business insurance. You can find answers down below, answered by our partner Superscript 👇

Q: What insurance do I need as a freelance photographer?

A: Most businesses will face some level of risk, and insuring against these risks is a good idea. What your business does will dictate the covers that are right for you. The level of risk these covers are intended to protect against will dictate how much you might pay for your insurance. 

There are three main things to consider when deciding what business insurance you need are:

• The cost of a claim - this will likely far outweigh the cost of purchasing your insurance.

• Your legal obligation - whilst less common for freelancers, if you have staff insurance is usually a legal requirement. You could be fined if you don’t have it in place.

• Will insurance open more job opportunities? Some clients will require adequate insurance to enter into a relationship with you as a freelancer.

Public liability and professional indemnity insurance are two important covers that most businesses will require. Amongst other things these covers protect you against any personal injury or property damage claims made against you as well as all round protection for any mistakes arising from your services.

In addition, as a freelance photographer you may also want to consider equipment cover which protects your specialist photo and video equipment as well as other kit such as laptops.

Media liability is another essential cover, and is often included within professional indemnity. This covers claims for IP infringement and other privacy and confidentiality breaches. Most businesses should also consider cyber liability cover if you take payments or handle any customer information (including imagery) online. 

If you have any employees, employers liability cover is a legal requirement for UK companies, regardless of whether your team is made up of temporary or part-time staff.

Q: Do I need both professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance? Are there any other insurance covers to look out for?

A: Public liability and professional indemnity insurance are two important covers that most businesses will require. 

Whether you're working from a home office, coworking space, a client's office or even out and about, public liability insurance provides protection if you cause accidental injury or property damage to a member of the public while you're working. A member of the public may trip and injure themself on a piece of your equipment, for example.

Clients pay for your knowledge and expertise, but what if you make a mistake? This is what professional indemnity insurance is for. It’s also a good idea to consider media liability cover too if this isn’t included in your professional indemnity, which covers accidental copyright infringement.

Be it a laptop, filming or other technical equipment, having equipment lost, stolen or damaged could leave you unable to work and out of pocket. Business equipment insurance allows you to have your broken or stolen equipment fixed or replaced.

Legal protection insurance gives you access to specialist commercial legal support if you ever face a legal dispute or have questions about tax issues, such as IR35.

A cover often dismissed as irrelevant to smaller businesses, cyber insurance may be relevant for you, if your work involves handling client or customer data.

If you have any employees, employers liability cover is a legal requirement for UK companies, regardless of whether your team is made up of temporary or part-time staff.

Q: At what stage of my freelance career do I need to get business insurance?

A: It’s never too early to get cover in place. Even before you start taking on work you could be exposed to risk, for example if you have equipment such as laptops you may want to cover this before you start trading officially, getting cover in place early is often a good idea.

In addition you can purchase your insurance now and set a date in the future for it to start, or, in some cases cover purchased now can be retroactive. This means that even if you’ve been trading for a while without adequate insurance you may be able to get cover that provides protection for claims made relating to a period before you had insurance in place.

Q: What precisely does the insurance cover me from?

A: Each cover is slightly different in the protection it provides, but ultimately the right insurance will cover you against the risks posed both to your business and the risks posed by the operations of your business to others.

Exclusive to you 👇

Superscript provide flexible cover by monthly payment which is tailored to the needs of creative freelancers. Wishu’s creative community receive 10% off your business insurance with Superscript and can get covered online in under 10 minutes.