There are few things more satisfying than setting out on your own as a freelancer and being the master of your own fate, especially if you have a passion for your work, whether you’re photographing weddings or writing articles across different outlets in a particular industry.
Of course, one major drawback of striking out on your own is that you lose the protections and cover afforded to you by working for a company. There’s a thrill to being a freelancer when it comes to managing your own workload and deciding how each day will look, but when problems arise, it’s important to have appropriate cover to assist you.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a brief list of insurance products that could help you rest a little easier!
Income Protection
This could be viewed as the most vital protection of all. Another consequence of going solo when it comes to freelancing is that you lose any financial help when you’re unable to work due to illness or injury. The absence of sick pay often hits freelancers hard, as your workload can’t easily be substituted to someone else and you miss out on opportunities as a result of being unavailable to pick up jobs at short notice. Considering that we can never foresee when we may need to take time off work, income protection is vital for freelancers to give them a backstop when they’re unable to run their business as usual.
Professional Indemnity
In a nutshell, this offers vital cover should you make a mistake that means a client of any sort loses money as a direct result of any advice or service that you’ve provided. Claims against you could run into the thousands and could mean that you’re forced to enter legal proceedings; professional indemnity helps to cover you in that eventuality, as well as being a frequent requirement from clients or companies before they enter into business with you.
Private Healthcare
This isn’t an essential purchase depending on your circumstances, but given the benefits, some freelancers choose to make use of Private Healthcare Insurance. For a start, you’re able to bypass NHS waiting lists; you’re also able to get treatment quicker and reduce the amount of time that you’re not working as a result.
Cyber
We’re living in an age where protecting client data has never been more important, and with GDPR offering more tools for members of the public to combat misuse of personal information, it’s especially vital that freelancers have appropriate cover in place. Cyber insurance protects you in the event of accidental data misuse or if your data is deliberately targeted; both circumstances could see you face claims for compensation from your clients, so the consequences for being without it are potentially huge for your work.
Office
This can range for office space insurance to contents insurance, so it’s important to decide what’s important for you when exploring this option. Should you wish to protect the space in which you operate, it’s worthwhile protecting it from damage and having valuable cover in place should valuable equipment used for work, such as computers, is stolen or comes to harm.
Public Liability
This won’t apply to all freelancers given that not everyone needs to interact with the public face-to-face as part of their work, but for those that have an office or work space that clients visit, public liability can cover you in the event of damage or injury sustained by a client, member of the public or third party whilst on your property. The most common example is if someone slips on a wet floor; public liability can cover potential legal costs as well as compensation claims that could be made against you.
Should you wish to discuss your freelancer insurance options, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!