New Business Insurance Checklist Template

Owned by the insurance lead. Enter the date cover must start on the first task: every due date counts back from it in working days, and the last few count forward. The answers in this phase decide which of the legal checks in Phase 2 appear.

• Set up the run: the business, the date cover must start and the people — the business, its legal form, the date cover must start, where it will operate or employ people, and the insurance lead, the approver and the person who knows the staff, premises and vehicles
• Describe what the business does and how it does it — the products or services, the customers, the expected turnover in the first year, whether it gives advice or designs things, makes, imports or sells products, handles customer data or takes payments online, and whether it will use vehicles on the road
• List who will work for the business, and where — employees and their start dates, directors, family members, contractors and freelancers, and anyone based abroad or coming from abroad to work
• List the premises, equipment, stock and vehicles — what the business owns, leases or hires, with a value or a rebuilding cost for each and where it is kept
• Set the insurance budget and how the premium will be paid — the amount the approver expects to spend in the first year, and whether the premium will be paid in one go or in instalments

Some cover is compulsory before the business takes its first step. The places ticked on the first task add the employers’ liability or workers’ compensation check, the vehicle answer adds motor cover and the regulator answer adds the professional requirement. The last task records the result, whatever applies.

• Check employers’ liability: cover of at least £5 million, or the exemption that applies — decide whether the business needs employers’ liability insurance from the date cover starts, from the first employee’s start date or not at all, and record why
• Check workers’ compensation in each state where you will employ people — for each state, whether the business must carry workers’ compensation, how cover is bought there, and any other insurance the state requires of a business like yours
• Find out which insurance the law requires where the business operates — the compulsory cover for employees, vehicles and the work the business does in each country outside the UK and the US, read on an official government site or confirmed by a local broker
• Check motor cover for every vehicle used on the road for the business — each vehicle the business owns, leases or hires, and any staff using their own cars for business journeys, with the cover each one needs
• Confirm the insurance your regulator or professional body requires — the body, the rule, the cover it requires, any minimum terms or limits, and whether the insurer must be on an approved list
• Record the cover the law requires and the date each must start — every compulsory cover that applies, its minimum limit and the date it must be in force, or a note that none applies yet

Customers, landlords, lenders and platforms may set insurance terms of their own. Read each one before the broker is briefed, so the quotes include the limits and wording they ask for.

• Read the insurance clauses in customer and supplier contracts — each contract signed or about to be signed: the cover required, the minimum limit, whether the other party must be named on the policy, and the evidence they want
• Read the insurance terms in the lease or licence for the premises — who insures the building, what the tenant must insure, whether the landlord must be noted on the policy, and the evidence the landlord asks for
• Check what lenders, investors, grant funders or platforms require — insurance terms in a loan or finance agreement, an investment agreement, a grant offer, an equipment lease or a marketplace’s seller terms
• Record every insurance requirement in one place — one row per requirement found in this phase, with the evidence each party needs and by when

Go through each line of cover the business might need, using what it does, what it owns and what the contracts ask for. Mark each one Needed, Consider or Not needed now, then agree the list to take to the market.

• Public or general liability: claims from customers and the public — injury to other people or damage to their property caused by the business, at the premises, on a customer’s site or at an event
• Property and contents: premises, equipment and stock — buildings the business must insure, and its equipment, stock, tools and computers, at the values listed in Phase 1
• Business interruption: lost income after an insured loss — the income and extra costs the business would lose if a fire, flood or other insured damage stopped it trading, and how long recovery could take
• Professional indemnity: claims that your advice or work was wrong — for a business that gives advice, designs, consults or provides professional services, including any limit a regulator or a contract sets
• Product liability: products you make, import or sell — injury or damage caused by a product the business makes, imports, labels or sells, including products sold online
• Cyber: data breaches, ransomware and system outages — the customer data held, online payments, the systems the business depends on, and the security questions a cyber insurer may ask
• Other cover to discuss with the broker — for example directors’ and officers’ liability, goods in transit, tools, key person cover, legal expenses or trade credit, where the business needs it
• Agree the cover to ask the market for — the list of lines with the limit sought for each, marked must have or nice to have, checked against the compulsory cover and the requirements found in Phase 3

Choose who will place the cover, then prepare the proposal: the facts the insurers rely on when they quote. A director reads and signs off the proposal before it goes out.

• Choose a broker or agent and check they are authorised or licensed — who will place the cover, or a decision to buy direct, with a check that the broker and each insurer are authorised in the UK or licensed in the US state
• Agree the broker’s terms of business and how they are paid — the services the broker will provide, whether they are paid by commission, a fee or both, and the terms in writing
• Gather the facts the proposal will ask for — activities, turnover, payroll and headcount estimates, premises and security, values, vehicles and drivers, contract requirements, and any past claims or insurance refused for the owners if the proposal asks
• Ask the people who know the business what the insurer should be told — the founders, directors and anyone else arranging the insurance, so every material fact they know, or ought to know, is in the proposal
• Check every proposal answer against the facts — each question on the proposal or application, its answer and the evidence behind it, with any answer that is an estimate marked as one
• Have a director read and sign off the proposal — the approver reads the proposal and the answers before the broker sends it to insurers, and either signs it off or lists what must change
• Send the proposal to the broker for quotes — the signed-off proposal and the cover list, with the date quotes are needed by

Compare the quotes on the same basis and recommend one. The approver’s decision is the gate: nothing after it can be completed until they record it. Approved with changes adds a task to make them; Not approved adds a task to revise the cover and bring it back.

• Compare the quotes like for like — for each quote: the cover and limits, the excess, the exclusions and conditions, the insurer, the premium with tax and fees, and any line not quoted
• List the conditions to meet before or after cover starts — for example security requirements, surveys, information the insurer still needs, or anything that must be fixed by a date, with who will meet each one
• Prepare the recommendation for approval — the quotes recommended, the total cost against the budget, the gaps and any risk the business will carry itself
• Approve the cover and the spend — the approver decides on the recommended cover, the insurers, the limits, the excesses and the total cost, before anything is bound
• Make the approved changes before binding — agree the changes the approver listed with the broker, such as a different limit, excess or insurer, and record what was changed
• Revise the cover and return it for approval — the cover was not approved: change what the approver asked for, get new quotes if needed, then ask the approver to change the decision, or to un-complete the approval and complete it again

Bind the approved cover in writing so it starts on the right date, pay for it, and check the documents when they arrive.

• Give the broker written instructions to bind cover from the start date — the approved quotes, the start date entered on the first task and the names of the businesses to be insured
• Get written confirmation that cover is in force from the start date — a cover note, confirmation of cover or the policy schedule for each line, received before the date cover must start
• Pay the premium or set up the instalments — on the insurer’s or broker’s payment terms, so cover is not cancelled for non-payment
• Check the policy documents against the quote — the names, addresses, activities, limits, excesses, endorsements and start date on each schedule and wording, with any error sent back to the broker

Show the cover to the people who need to see it, keep the record, and set the date the first renewal starts. A business in Great Britain or Northern Ireland also displays its employers’ liability certificate.

• Display the employers’ liability certificate where every employee can see it — on paper at each workplace or electronically where every employee can reach it, ready to show an inspector
• Send evidence of cover to everyone who asked for it — the customers, landlord, lender and platforms listed in Phase 3, with the certificate, schedule or broker’s letter each one asked for
• Set up the insurance register and file the documents — one row per policy with the insurer, policy number, limits, excess, premium and renewal date, and the documents stored where the team can find them
• Tell the team how to report an incident or a claim — who to tell, the insurer’s or broker’s claims contact, the time limits for notifying in each policy, and what to record at the time
• Set the renewal date and plan the first renewal — the first renewal date from the policy schedules, the date the renewal work starts, and any change during the year the insurers must be told about