What is carers’ insurance?
Carers’ insurance is not one specific product but rather an umbrella term for a number of policies that can protect you. For example, if someone under your care is injured or becomes ill as a result of your care work, or if someone’s belongings are damaged, lost or stolen.
Exactly what is covered will depend on what you decide to include in your carer’s insurance package.
Your policy can also be tailored to your personal circumstances, whether you’re a self-employed carer or you work within a care home.
Self-employed carer insurance
You may want to consider public liability insurance if you are a self-employed carer. It provides financial cover for any errors, omissions, accidents you’re responsible for in your role as a carer that might result in a client’s injury, illness or death, as well as for any damage or loss you might cause to a member of the public’s property.
Your carers’ insurance policy might also include specific cover for incidents as serious as a client’s accidental death, permanent or temporary disability and accident-related hospitalisation. These situations may be rare, but it could make sense to be covered for the worst-case scenario. Often, you can choose to have these specific circumstances covered, or not.
Personal accident insurance, which covers you for loss of earnings if an injury prevents you from working, is also an important consideration. And you may also consider adding personal belongings insurance to your policy. If you are choosing a specific carer package, check whether these two types of cover will only protect you during your working hours, or outside work too.
Care home insurance
If you run a care home that employs staff, you are legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. This will cover you in the event that a member of staff is involved in an accident in the workplace. The only exception is if your staff are close family members, or are based abroad.
If you run a care home, your insurance needs will be more complex than if you visit your clients in their own home. To understand what sort of insurance you will need, you should consider all aspects of your business, from the staff you employ to buildings and contents insurance for the premises and any supplies and equipment on site.