Public liability insurance
Public liability insurance for charities
What is charity public liability insurance?
Our public liability insurance for charities and not-for-profit organisations can help protect you against claims made by the public for injury or accidental property damage where you may be at fault. The public can include club members, service users, clients, customers, volunteers or contractors who have been working on site and more.
Do charities need public liability insurance?
It is difficult to think of a charity, group or organisation that would not need to consider public liability cover. In fact, most of our customers see our public liability insurance as something that can help them provide their services, events, and fundraising activities.
Find out more in our article:
How public liability insurance protects your charity
Meet Ruth. She volunteers with a local charity that runs community events, open days, meet ups and workshops where people come together.She's proud to be part of it. And when the team hosted an open day, it was full of conversation, laughter and community spirit. But then something unexpected happened.
A visitor tripped on the loose floorboard that was overlooked by the charity and preparing for the event. This is when everything came to a sudden stop. They broke their leg and later made a claim against the charity. The time off work for pain and for legal costs.
For a small charity, it was a moment that made them pause and ask what do we do now? Thankfully, the charity had public liability insurance. They were found to be responsible for the accident and their insurer paid out on the claim, supporting them through each step of the process.
Zurich's cover helps protect your charity so one mistake doesn't undo 100 acts of kindness.
At Zurich, we have already earned the trust of over 17,000 not-for-profit organisations across the UK, offering insurance that flexes around the way you need to work. We know that your volunteers are at the heart of your charity, which is why our public liability includes cover for them as a standard.Whilst you're helping others, we're here to help you.
Our online product provides 2,000,000 pounds public liability coverage standard but can be extended at an additional cost. And if you need more, just get in touch with our specialist team. We'll help you find the right fit.
Zurich public liability insurance trusted protection, so you can focus on what matters most. Start your quote today at zurich.co.uk/charity-insurance or call 0800 917 9420 to talk it through with our team.
Our public liability insurance includes:
- Cover for your volunteers if they cause accidental property damage or injury to a member of the public
- Payment of legal costs and damages to defend a claim against your organisation
- Product liability cover if you make or sell goods
- Property owners’ liability if you are responsible for, or own, a building
If your organisation also has employees, it’s a legal requirement to have employers’ liability insurance.
If you’re not sure what insurance you need for your charity, our 10 questions to make buying insurance simple can help you decide.
About our public liability insurance
Public liability insurance covers your organisation if it's found legally responsible for causing accidental injury or property damage to a third party. A third party could be a volunteer, a service user or a member of the public.
It also covers legal costs that you may have to pay when defending such claims made against you. Ultimately, if your organisation interacts with people or is responsible for buildings or land, then you could consider buying public liability insurance.
Our public liability insurance automatically covers volunteers. This includes if a volunteer causes an accidental injury or damages someone else's property while they're volunteering for you. We provide five million pounds of cover as standard, but this can be increased if your organisation needs a higher amount.
The level of cover you need will depend on two key things. Firstly, the type of activities normally carried out at your organisation and secondly, the potential costs you could incur from causing injury or damage to a third party. The majority of our customers choose the five million pounds option.
As standard our public liability insurance includes cover for up to six events per year, with fewer than 500 people attending at any one time. These might include a summer fate or a sponsored walk to raise funds for your organisation. If you run more than six events a year or hold events with more than 500 people, cover can be extended.
Our public liability insurance includes property owners liability cover too. This provides cover if property or land you're responsible for causes injury or damage to a third party. For example, this could apply if a roof tile fell off, damaging a car or injuring a passerby.
The full terms and conditions of our public liability insurance can be found on the policy document on our website. For more information about any of our policies, visit www.zurich.co.uk/charity.
How does public liability insurance for charities and not-for-profit organisations work?
If your charity or organisation interacts with the public, you should consider public liability insurance.
If an injury or property damage happened, and your organisation was considered to be responsible, a claim could be made against you. If the claim was successful, you would be held legally responsible for paying compensation. Having public liability insurance in place means your insurer would pay those compensation costs.
In some cases, you may also need public liability insurance to hire a venue for a fundraising event. Venues can request proof of insurance before you hire them and may even ask that you have a certain level of public liability cover in place.
Let’s consider an example. A charity is having a meeting at its premises with lots of people present. During the meeting, someone trips over a loose floorboard and breaks their leg. They accuse the charity of poor maintenance of the building and successfully make a claim against them. The charity's public liability cover would settle this claim (within the conditions of the policy).
Public liability insurance does not cover employees if they’re injured at work. You must have employer's liability insurance (a legal requirement) to do this.
FAQs about public liability insurance for charities
Our public liability insurance automatically covers volunteers - for example, if a volunteer causes an accidental injury or damages someone else’s property while they’re volunteering for you.
Our policy provides cover to the organisation when injury or damage is caused to third parties and the organisation is found to have been negligent. In this case, third parties refers to any volunteer, service user, member or member of the public.
Cover cannot be extended to protect the actions of service users or members if they cause injury or damage, and the organisation is not negligent.
We offer £2,000,000 as standard for some of our online products, with the option to increase to £5,000,000 for an additional premium.
For bespoke policies that are not purchased online, we offer £5,000,000 as standard, however, we can consider increased limits for an additional premium.
The level of cover you need will depend on two key things: the type of activities you do and the potential costs you could incur if you were found legally liable of causing injury or damage to a third-party.
As standard, our charity public liability insurance includes cover for events with fewer than 500 people attending at any one time. These could range from a summer fete to a sponsored walk. If you have more than 500 people attending, cover can be increased at an additional cost.
Our public liability insurance includes product liability insurance. This covers your organisation if it makes, repairs, sells, or donates a product that causes accidental injury or damage. For example, cover is available if you make and sell food in a bake sale that causes food poisoning, or if you sell a repaired item of furniture that breaks and causes injury to someone. Please note, poor design or specification of products is not covered.
Our public liability insurance includes property owner’s liability cover. This provides cover if property or land you’re responsible for causes injury or damage to a third-party. For example, this could apply if a roof tile falls off and damages a car or injures a passer-by.
Read the latest charity news
As well as providing insurance, we also produce articles and guides to help charities and not-for-profit organisations with risk management.