Care Home Insurance

When you choose your care home insurance, you will want to make sure that you have chosen a policy that is tailored made to cover your business needs provides a broad range of insurance perils and has been well thought out to cover a wide range of scenarios that could affect your care home business.

Care Home Buildings Insurance

A wide range of cover is available including Accidental Damage & Subsidence. Damage to the building caused by Theft or Attempted theft of any contents is also included. As well as these, following an insured event at the premises, cover up to 15% of the building sum insured is included to help towards compliance with building or other regulations under law, including those arising from Care Standards legislation. If you are renting the building in which you care home is located, then it will normally be your Landlords responsibility to insure the premises. We can of course quote for any Landlord just wishing to insure the structure of the premises used as a care home on a property owners insurance policy and would ask that, if this is the cover you are looking for, as opposed to a full business package cover, contact is made to us via our contact form and not the quote facility on this page.

However, for care home proprietors than own their own property, the policy, can include buildings insurance defined as follows: the buildings of the premises including landlord’s fixtures and fittings, outbuildings, walls, gates and fences, piping, ducting, cables, wires and associated control gear and accessories on the premises and extending to the public mains ( but only to the extent of your responsibility) yards, car parks, roads and pavements storage tanks, swimming pools and associated apparatus.

The insurance company will require knowing the construction of the building, usually this is defined as: being constructed of brick, stone or concrete, built and roofed with slates, tiles, concrete metal, asphalt or sheets or slabs composed of an incombustible mineral. If you building is constructed of other materials, it is probable that cover can still be arranged. You are free to choose your own building sum insured which should accurately reflect it’s rebuilding cost. If you have a loan or a mortgage secured against the property, then your lenders interest can easily be noted under the policy wording. A 24 hour help line is provided to cover emergencies occurring at your premises such as broken glass or any unforeseen emergency that causes damage.

Care Home Contents Insurance

A wide range of perils is included under the policy wording which can also include Accidental Damage insurance. This is one of the main care home insurance policy sections and you are free to choose your own sum insured. Your sum insured should be calculated to cover replacement of all items defined as contents.

In simple terms, contents includes: business equipment, plant, machinery, furniture, fixtures and fittings, drugs, medicines, vaccines, stock and all other contents all belonging to you or for which you are legally responsible if they are damaged or destroyed. Contents cover is provided at the premises and elsewhere as agreed. Unless you other wise request, your sums insured will be index linked which will help to provide a protection against inflation. Cover in respect of your business contents can also be extended to include up to £5000 on an “All Risks” basis for out of premises cover, this valuable section can also include the property of your residents and whilst they are working for you, the property of your employees and volunteers.

Breakdown of Equipment

Most Care Homes rely on the smooth running of business equipment and this section of the policy is automatically provided to provide you against break down of equipment (wear and tear is excluded) of lifts, central heating and air conditioning systems, boilers (boilers are covered for both breakdown and explosion, security and sound systems, photocopiers and office equipment. Up to £5,000,000 is provided in any one period of insurance. Cover in respect of care home computer breakdown is also included but only for items not included under a maintenance contract.

Business Interruption Insurance

This cover is essential for the running of any Care Home business and will provide you with insurance against loss of income or your extra expenses in running the business following a loss such as a fire or a flood. You can choose your sums insured based on your own requirements, which much accurately represent the total revenue of your business. You can also choose the indemnity period you require cover for, up to 36 months in total is available. A separate section covering increased cost of working can also be included covering up to £25,000 (can be increased if required)

Whilst most business interruption insurance claims at a Care Home occur after a major event such as a fire or a flood, there are other eventualities that can interfere with the profit of the business. Cover is extended to include loss of profit following a specified disease, murder, rape or suicide, food poisoning, defective sanitation accidentally caused or vermin. This cover will provide you with an indemnity if certain restrictions are placed on your business by the local authority. Cover is also provided for denial of access to your property following an incident at a neighbouring property.

Liability Insurance

Liability insurance is essential and will enable you to trade within the law. Liability claims in respect of a Care Home can arise from numerous situations, they can be costly to defend and ultimately, compensation awards may be large. The core sections of the policy provide generous levels of cover. Employers Liability, required by the Employers Liability Protection act is covered up to £10,000,000. Public & Products Liability is provided up to £5,000,000, although it is possible to quote for higher sums insured if you require. At your request, it is also possible to include the personal liability of your residents, particularly useful if, like many residents of care homes, they do not have their own cover elsewhere.

This care home policy will also include “Treatment Risks” including personal indemnity for nurses. This covers the proprietor of the care home for accidental injury or illness to residents incurred in connection with the treatment given. Personal indemnity for nurses, including “proprietor nurses” acting in an individual capacity is included. Please note the policy will not include professional indemnity cover for any medical practitioner. The standard limit of cover for this section of the policy is £2,000,000.

Legal Expenses Insurance

There are a wide range of legal pitfalls that a care home proprietor may encounter on an almost daily basis; in fact many business owners’ feel they are more likely to incur business legal expenses than suffer damage from say a fire or flood. Running a care home business is a complex business and by effecting legal expenses insurance you may help to provide some much needed peace of mind. Covers that are included under this section include:

• Employment disputes and compensation awards.
• Services occupancy issues.
• Contract Disputes - relating to the sale, hire or purchase of goods.
• Legal defence against criminal prosecutions brought by the Police, Health & Safety Executive and/or Local Authority Health & Safety Enforcement Officer. Also gives cover for civil actions in some specified circumstances.
• Bodily Injury - Cover helps to protect both you and your employee’s legal rights
• Tax & VAT in respect of any enquiry by HM Revenue & Customs
• Debt Recovery and Statutory Licence Protection cover

This valuable section of the care home insurance policy also comes with a number of free 24 hour help lines covering: Legal advice, Tax Advice & Counselling. You will also be provided with access to an online manual covering business law guidance.

Loss of Registration

It goes without saying that the loss of registration for any care home will usually mean the end of the business as a going concern and the subsequent depreciation in the value of the premises. Cover can be provided against the financial depreciation of the premises following the withdrawal of the certificate that allows you to run the business. For full details of all covers available, reference must be made to the Key-facts document and the full policy wording. These are available free of charge for your perusal on request. All quotations are provided free of charge and are subject to full disclosure of the relevant underwriting information. If you are interested in receiving further details or a no obligation quotation for your care home insurance, we will be very pleased to hear from you.