Churchill Business Insurance Review

Churchill business insurance: at a glance

Churchill offers a range of business insurance to small businesses and self-employed workers. This includes liability cover and protection for tools, equipment and stock, along with optional add-ons specific to your profession. 

You can buy business insurance online or over the phone, and also find specific cover for certain trades and professions. Churchill offers a dashboard to manage your policy and save quotes online, as well as customer service support over the phone. 

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Churchill Business Insurance

• Maximum Cover Amounts
  Public Liability: £10m | Employers Liability: £10m | Professional Indemnity: £5m | Personal Accident Insurance: £10k | Business Equipment Cover: £10k

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Churchill business insurance pros and cons

These pros and cons are based on a survey of UK business owners on what they found important when selecting a range of business products, conducted by NerdWallet in December 2022.

Churchill business insurance key features

• Phone support for claims and policy management
• Online portal to save quotes and manage your policy
• Monthly and annual premiums available

Churchill business insurance full review

Churchill is a UK-based insurer that has been offering cover since 1989 and is now part of the Direct Line Group. It offers standard types of business insurance directly to small businesses and professionals, as well as general insurance such as car, pet, home and travel. 

Find out more about Churchill business insurance – including how it measures up to key priorities of business owners, according to our NerdWallet survey.

What types of business insurance does Churchill offer?

Churchill offers a range of standard business insurance, including:

• Public liability insurance (up to £10 million): It covers compensation and legal costs if your business activities cause injury or death to a member of the public. It also covers the cost of replacing or repairing their belongings if they’re lost or damaged because of your business. Product liability insurance, for injury or damage caused by a faulty product that you’ve designed, made or supplied is included.
• Employers’ liability insurance (up to £10 million): It pays compensation to both permanent and temporary employees if they are injured, die or become ill due to their work and make a successful claim. It also covers related legal fees. This is only available as an add-on to public liability insurance.
• Professional indemnity insurance (up to £5 million): It covers the cost if  your business has provided bad advice or services and a client makes a successful claim against you.
• Tools and business equipment cover (up to £10,000): It covers the cost of replacing your equipment, such as tools or a laptop, if it’s stolen, lost or damaged. 
• Personal accident insurance (including up to £50,000 death benefit): A fixed sum is paid out if you or an employee in your business (who is named on the policy) is seriously injured, becomes disabled or dies because of an accident they have in or outside work.
• Stock insurance (up to £25,000): It helps cover the cost of replacing your goods if they are damaged or stolen.
• Contract works insurance (up to £750,000): This pays out to repair or redo work on site if it’s damaged by fire, flood, vandalism or theft.
• Plant cover (your own and hired in) (up to £75,000): It covers the cost of repairing or replacing plant that’s stolen or damaged. For hired-in plant, the maximum payout is £20,000 per item.
• Landlord insurance (up to £15 million): It can cover the bricks and mortar of a residential buy-to-let, commercial property or multiple properties, including boiler cover. Contents insurance (up to £1.5 million) is also available for damage to belongings you leave in the rental.
• Van insurance: This offers cover for using your van for work, such as carrying stock or tools to other places. Helps cover the cost of damage if you are involved in an accident or your van is stolen or destroyed, depending on the level of insurance you choose.

You can buy some of these as standalone cover or build a package with optional extras, depending on the protection you need and the premium you can afford. 

Churchill business insurance features

Here’s more about what Churchill’s business insurance features. We’ve also considered what business owners said was most important to them in our NerdWallet survey. 

Professions and trades covered 

Some trades have individual pages on Churchill’s website that can help you see the type of cover that’s relevant for the risks you face. These include:

• builders
• gardeners
• carpenters
• beauty therapists
• hairdressers
• consultants
• plumbers
• electricians

This might make the process easier and quicker if you’re not sure which types of insurance might be most relevant to your profession. In our NerdWallet survey, being able to shop by industry was only ranked seventh out of 10 in importance, but convenience and potential industry expertise were certainly a factor for some.  

However, not all businesses in the same sector will need the same cover, so stay focused on the specific risks your own business faces.

If your trade isn’t mentioned on Churchill’s website, it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be offered cover. You can get a quote for the specific type of business cover you need online, or you can call Churchill to ask if it would insure your business.

Payment options 

You can pay your business insurance premiums annually or in monthly instalments, if you’re eligible. Having this choice was key for a number of business owners in our survey. The option to pay monthly was the second most important factor, with annual payment ranking fourth. 

Monthly payments can make budgeting easier, though businesses should factor in the extra cost that comes with paying interest on them. 

Online policy management 

You can log in to an online account to add, view and renew some business insurance policies, or to save and retrieve quotes. However, you may need to call customer services or contact them through secure messaging to make changes to your policy. Web-based policy management was the third most important factor in our survey, so it’s on many business owners’ wishlists. 

Phone support 

You call customer services about your cover or to get a quote. Lines are open 9am to 6pm on weekdays (excluding bank holidays). In our survey, being able to call customer services to make policy changes was ranked eighth in importance, with the majority seeing the self-service, online route as a higher priority. 

Making a claim 

You can make a claim online or over the phone. There are different claims lines depending on the type of cover, which you can find via the website or through your online account. For example, you can phone and make a van insurance claim 24/7, 365 days a year. It’s also possible to contact Churchill by post, but it’s advisable to take the quicker phone route for claims, because some claims have time limits. 

In our survey, being able to make a claim online was important for nearly half of business owners (and was the top ranking factor). So it might help to know this is an option with Churchill.

Customer reviews

Churchill has a Trustpilot rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 9,750 reviews (as of 7 March 2023).

Bear in mind that these reviews also cover Churchill’s personal insurance, so they aren’t exclusively about business insurance. 

Can you shop by profession with Churchill?

Churchill provides some packages grouped by profession, such as cleaners, electricians, landlords and consultants. You don’t have to take this route, though. Most feature similar options of tools and equipment cover, public liability and van insurance, but not all of these will be relevant to your business.

Even so, you might find it useful to see the types of risks your profession faces in one place – such as tools and van cover for a carpenter, or liability cover for professionals – and find a straightforward route to building cover and getting a quote to match.  

A possible plus to shopping by your trade could be highlighting relevant optional add-ons for the job you do, for an additional cost. For example, it’s possible to extend public liability insurance to include treatment liability insurance for businesses that provide beauty treatments to clients.

How to choose the right business insurance

The business insurance policies or package you choose needs to address the risks your business faces. When it comes to insurance types, there is a wide choice available, but some businesses might need the following cover to be able to operate:

• You need employers’ liability insurance by law if you employ anyone in the UK who isn’t a close family member. And you will still need this type of insurance if you employ family and your business is incorporated as a limited company. 
• Professional indemnity insurance is required by their governing body or regulator for some professions, such as solicitors and accountants.
• You may be asked to have a specific level of public liability insurance to carry out some work, including government contracts. 
• If you use a vehicle for work (other than commuting), you must have motor insurance and should consider business car insurance or commercial vehicle insurance. 

If you’re not sure which types of cover you need, an independent business insurance broker can help. Membership and trade bodies may also help you work out the minimum level of cover you need.  

To compare business insurance providers at a glance, take a look at our latest round-up.

How to get Churchill business insurance

To take out a business insurance policy with Churchill, you can get a quote by phone or through its website. You will need to provide information about yourself and your business, which will include:

• your name and address
• your contact information
• policy start date
• your trade or profession

You may also be asked for more specific information depending on your trade, for example the height and depth you work at, or the salon treatments you offer. There will also be declarations about County Court Judgments (CCJs) or previous bankruptcies to agree to.

You can then apply for the cover based on the quote if you decide it’s right for you, or compare the quote details with other providers. 

If you save a quote, it will be available for 45 days or until the planned policy start date.

How to save money on Churchill business insurance

Some types of Churchill’s business cover include benefits that might be money-saving, or are at least a bonus. 

For example, if you make a claim on van insurance due to an accident that was the fault of an uninsured driver, it will waive the excess. At the time of writing, Churchill also offers 15% off landlord insurance for new and renewed policies, online or over the phone, though terms and exclusions apply.

There is also a 10% discount for customers who buy more than one type of cover from Admiral, for example van insurance and landlord insurance. This is provided premiums aren’t below a minimum amount. 

Phone helpline services are included in some cover for legal advice, counselling, and health and medical assistance for employees. And you can save money if you pay annually rather than monthly, as interest is charged on monthly instalments.

About the Author

Holly Bennett

Holly champions clear, jargon-free writing. She’s been creating finance content for leading organisations for over 10 years.

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