Caterers

Although not a legal requirement, Public Liability Insurance is essential no matter how small or large your business and is particularly important for businesses that work with or come into close contact with members of the public. Public Liability protects your business against liability claims arising from injury to third party person or damage to third party property where you are proven negligent. Incidents can occur anywhere and at any time, from an item falling from your catering trailer and breaking another person’s property to someone tripping over your trailer and breaking their leg.

Following a loss of equipment or premises, a business may not be able to trade as normal until a replacement has been made.

At the beginning of the marquee season, the production lead time of suppliers can be lengthy, causing a major disruption. Business Interruption insurance enables a company to claim for resultant loss of ‘Gross Profit’ or ‘revenue’ relating to contracts which it cannot complete. The insurer can often minimise the claim by enabling the insured to complete contracts by funding the temporary hire or replacement equipment, i.e. the increased cost of working. This is also beneficial to the marquee company as their clients will not be let down, enabling future repeat business and recommendations.

The Indemnity period under the policy should be the period during which the business is affected by the property damage loss and that period can only be decided by the business itself as circumstances will vary from business to business. For example, you should consider how long it will take to get your business back to its position prior to the damage taking into account factors such as time to find alternative premises or rebuilding, lead times to replace stock and even keeping your valuable employees and customers. For example, a shop has a fire and is unable to trade. If it takes 24 months to rebuild that shop and they are unable to trade in that period, 12 months indemnity would not be enough. Indemnity periods can start at 12 months and can go up to 24, 36 and even 48 months. Many people choose 12 months but if your property is large, or listed, extensive damage can easily take over a year to repair, leaving much of your interruption period uninsured.

Employers have a legal obligation to carry Employers Liability Insurance which indemnifies the employer in respect of injury to its employees for which it is legally responsible. It is generally accepted by members of the Association of British Insurers that the minimum indemnity limit should be £10m. An employee is deemed to be any individual who undertakes any work for the insured whether paid or not.

There is a common misconception that Employers Liability is not required in regards to self-employed staff. For Marquee Companies this is rarely the case as such staff are normally working under the direction of the Employer, and are not Bona Fide Subcontractors. A ‘Bona Fide’ Subcontractor carries their own insurance and provides their own method, tools and materials.

The legal penalties of failing to effect adequate Employers Liability insurance are severe, but perhaps even more significant are the implications of the potential cost of a successful claim against an uninsured company. In an increasingly litigious society, personal injury claims are becoming frequent and of greater magnitude.