Insurance recommendations

Questions
1

Hi folks,

Do your worker co-ops have personal indemnity insurance, and/or employers liability insurance?

If so, do you have recommendations (ideally for insurance services provided by a cooperative)?

Thanks!

2

Not provided by a co-op but PolicyBee worth checking as a broker. Hiscocks is a common provider in my experience if you provide professional services.

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3

Thanks @NathanBrown.

4

I realised I should clarify slightly - part of the question is: “Is it necessary, beneficial, or possible for worker co-ops to get employers liability insurance?”

5

It is mandatory for businesses to have employers liability insurance

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6

Seen this?
https://forum.workers.coop/t/business-insurance-demystified-lunchtime-member-webinar-5-sept-2025/1177

7

Sorry, not a forum admin. It’s in the Member only section of the forum as it’s a Member Benefit. Perhaps your co-op isn’t a Member of Workers.coop? Or if it is, you need to speak to an admin to get access to Member only content. Apologies, I forget that non-Members use the forum as well

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8

I went along to the event linked above ( CiviCRM - workers.coop ). Here are my notes!

  • What are the typical insurances?

    • Professional indemnity

    • Physical stuff

    • Cyber stuff

    • management liability

    • employment practices liability

  • Questions:

    • Can I get clarity on which insurances are mandatory (required by law)?

      • employers liability cover

        • legal min, ÂŁ5M, normally ÂŁ10M

      • professional indemnity

        • depends on business type

      • possibly cyber, depending on business type

    • management liability - How do the management liability insurances work for a co-op where there is no distinction between management and worker?

      • Matt not sure, could need to ask

      • Sion - in practice having lots of people doesn’t make it more expensive

      • Sion also recommends “group personal accident and travel cover”

        • Costs ~ÂŁ3.5K/year but includes cover for sickness

    • Meta question re workers.coop and Howdens: what is an “introducer agreement”?

      • Howden’s gives some money to [[workers.coop]] on new contracts

    • Are there insurance providers who are more/less ethical? (or even… a co-op?)

      • None of the big ones, so it’s a balancing act between whether you want reliable insurance or values-aligned orgs

    • When do we need insuarance?

      • When we start trading / when we have “employees”
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9

These notes are helpful, thanks for sharing them @da5nsy . I think there might also be another thread about insurance elsewhere on this forum Pensions ('ethical') - #6 by NathanBrown Would be good to do a peer meet-up around the topic of insurance at some point! Maybe one for the Autumn Assembly @gloria_d could be peer-led.

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