Facilities management insurance
tailored to your business needs
Get award-winning FM insurance from the specialists at Darwin Clayton. For professional advice or a facilities management insurance quote, call us on 01892 511 144 or follow the links below.
Why get facilities management insurance through Darwin Clayton?
Darwin Clayton have been working with the FM, cleaning and security sectors for many years. Our award-winning facilities management solution was designed to create a single specialist product to reflect the increased complexities of businesses operating in this sector. We’ve been members of the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) and the Cleaning & Support Services Association (CSSA) since their formation. We have a deep understanding of your industry, and by partnering with us, you will also benefit from the following:
- Specialist advice from experienced insurance professionals
- FM insurance tailored to your business
- Help should you need to make a claim
- Favourable pricing for BICS and CSSA members, SIA ACS Approved Contractors, various accreditations, and good claims record
- Being kept up to date with the latest industry advice and guidance
As you can see from the following client testimonial, your business insurance is in excellent hands with Darwin Clayton
Darwin Clayton continues to deliver a bespoke, personal, and responsive service that matches the FSI Europe approach to business. We cannot recommend them highly enough”.
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What is facilities management insurance?
FM insurance offers financial protection against potential losses that might occur due to accidents during your business operations. The exact makeup of insurance requirements will vary according to the specific services your facilities management company provides and the needs of your clients. However, typical policy components include:
- Employers’ liability insurance
- Public liability insurance, including damage to property being cleaned and treatment risks
- Inefficacy and contractual liability insurance
- Product and product inefficacy insurance
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Fidelity bonding insurance
- Property and business interruption insurance
What does facilities management insurance cover?
When working in a specialist industry, you may find your business encounters situations that standard business insurance doesn’t cover. The Darwin Clayton team can offer you cover that is designed to cover the specific risks your FM business faces, including:
Employers’ liability insurance of £5m is a legal requirement if you have any staff. If you hire people without having this insurance cover, you can face fines of up to £2,500 for each day they are uninsured. If your employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you and they bring a claim for compensation against your business, you will be protected.
Public liability for facilities management contractors covers your business if you or your employees are held liable for accidental injury to your clients, customers, or the public or for damage to their property because of your business’s activities.
Some of the incidents that could happen during your cleaning operation are slips on a washed floor, trips over equipment cables, spills on your client’s property, or if your equipment is stolen or damaged.
The facilities management insurance we arrange includes cover for damage to property being cleaned, including treatment risks. So, if you accidentally damage a carpet using the wrong chemical treatment, this will protect you against the cost of repair or replacement. Not all policies offer this level of protection.
If your FM company fails to carry out your contracted security duties or services, then you could be held liable for the resulting damage or theft.
If the products you supply to customers cause damage or injury, you could be held liable in the event of the claim.
If a product you supply fails to perform its intended function, this could result in disastrous consequences and significant losses for your clients. Product inefficacy insurance will protect your business from the resulting claim investigation, defence, legal proceedings, and compensation.
This covers your legal liability for claims arising out of any unlawful physical restraint of a person by one of your security officers.
This cover provides protection for claims made against you by your customers as a result of theft of customer’s money or property, fraud or embezzlement. Cover also includes misuse of customer’s telephones.
This cover provides protection against loss of your own money or property caused by an act of theft, fraud or dishonesty by one of your employees.
If you’re entrusted with a client’s keys, and you lose them, this will cover the cost of replacing the keys and a change of locks if necessary.
Financial loss insurance covers your business against losses which you become legally liable to pay as compensation, plus costs and expenses for accidental financial loss where no damage has occurred.
If you offer any design, consultancy or advisory services in cleaning methods, facilities management practices or products, then professional indemnity – or PI insurance as it’s also known – is important for protecting your business.
This provides cover for costs incurred by your business, with insurers prior written consent, to mitigate damage to your company’s reputation.
As with any insurance policy there are terms and exclusions, we will discuss this with you during the quotation process.
Are there any policy options for facilities management insurance cover?
Depending on the nature of your FM company’s work, you may need additional covers added to your facilities management insurance quote. Options for these include:
Covers the expenses associated with cleaning up pollution or contamination of a property, where this was sudden, identifiable, unintended and unexpected. Environmental clean-up insurance covers the costs of investigating, remediating, and restoring a site that has been contaminated by pollutants or hazardous materials. This can include expenses for soil, water, and air remediation, as well as removal and disposal of contaminants.
Covers your office contents, computer equipment, trade plant and machinery, stock, and buildings
Covers financial losses following an incident such as fire or flood, protecting your business should you incur additional costs to continue trading to your previous level.
This cover will protect your business from losses and damages resulting from acts of terrorism.
Does Darwin Clayton offer any additional policies to protect your FM business?
This cover is becoming more important for modern businesses due to the increase in cyber-attacks in the UK. The 2023 Cyber Security Breaches Survey, conducted for the UK Government, revealed that 59% of medium-sized organisations encountered a cyber security breach or attack in the past 12 months.
Also called directors’ and officers’ or D&O insurance, covers your facilities management business against the expenses of compensation claims made against directors, officers, or high-ranking management for alleged wrongful actions. Claims could be made by disgruntled employees, clients, investors, stakeholders, and even regulators and could involve civil, criminal, or regulatory proceedings. A management liability policy can also cover any legal costs that arise for directors in defending their case.
With businesses facing so many risks, seeking legal advice and formulating legal documents, such as employment contracts, can be time-consuming and expensive when the services of solicitors and other legal experts are engaged. Legal expenses cover not only offers the services of legal representation but also provides free legal advice on a range of legal problems and access to a suite of helpful documents.
This insurance cover includes three core elements:
- A separate cover for your computer equipment
- Contractor’s plant covers your machinery such as a cherry picker or MEWP
- As your equipment should be inspected regularly, this policy covers you for statutory inspection service
This cover offers you a loss adjuster to work on your behalf to investigate and present your property and business interruption claim to the insurer. This cover can be invaluable if your business suffers a serious loss following a flood or fire.
If one of your employees has an accident, and it leads to temporary or permanent disablement, or even death, a benefit payment will be made. Business travel can also be added to this cover.
- Motor fleet insurance covers your multiple vehicles on a single policy. It can be a mix of vehicles, including vans, cars, and trucks.
- Uninsured loss recovery insurance pays for a solicitor to pursue a guilty third party for recovery of your uninsured losses such as policy excess, hire vehicle charge, loss of earnings; as well as costs to pursue a personal injury claim.
- GAP insurance will cover the outstanding balance of a finance or lease agreement on your motor vehicle following its write-off or up to 25% of the write-off value.
If a customer fails to pay you for services or products, whether it’s due to insolvency, refusal, or inability to pay, credit insurance will indemnify your losses. The insurance will also provide insights into customers credit ratings and what limits of credits to offer.
Performance bonds are a type of surety bond and are written promises to pay for direct loss of damage suffered by third party as a result of a breach of contract. Performance bonds are typically issued for 10% of contract value and are common with construction projects to protect the employer against the contractor failing.
Facilities management insurance FAQs
It’s important for FM companies to get the right insurance. To help you do that, here are our facilities management insurance frequently asked questions. We hope these will prove useful, but if you’d like some personalised advice, feel free to contact us on 01892 511 144. Our team of insurance professionals will be happy to help.
If you have employees, you will need at least £5m of employers’ liability insurance – that is a legal requirement.
Your specific insurance needs may vary depending on the service your business offers and your clients’ needs. Some of the typical covers we arrange, include: public liability, including damage to property being cleaned and treatment risks, fidelity guarantee, employers’ liability, product liability, professional indemnity, inefficacy and fidelity bonding.
Accidents can happen, causing harm to a client’s property, injury to others, damage to equipment, or other unforeseen events. These incidents might lead to financial loss, missed business opportunities, or affect your business operations. A quality FM insurance solution covers you in such situations, protecting your facilities management company from legal and financial liabilities.
Having the appropriate insurance cover is not only a responsible business practice but also a way to protect the financial stability of your facilities management company in the event of unexpected incidents or accidents. It provides peace of mind to both the contractor and their clients and ensures that the business can continue to operate effectively.
Getting a quote is easy. You can call us on 01892 511 144 and our experienced team of professionals will help you find the protection you need, or you can start your FM insurance quote here. As we understand your industry, we will work with you to design insurance cover to suit your business’s requirements.
That will depend on the level of protection your business requires, your annual wages and turnover, what equipment you have, your claims history, etc. If you would like to get a FM insurance quote, call us on 01892 511 144 or start your quote here.
Like some facilities management insurance help?
If you’d like some help with your FM insurance, please give us a call on 01892 511 144. Our friendly team of insurance advisors will be happy to help you get the protection you need and offer you a facilities insurance quote.