Zurich rebrands tradespeople offering to include homeworkers
07/14/2025
Nikki Lidster, Head of SME and trading at Zurich UK, said the product, now known as ‘tradespeople and homeworkers’ from today (14 July) was previously limited to typical trades and professions in which one could be self-employed, such as builders, plasterers, caterers, consultants, hairdressers, and beauticians.
Lidster said Zurich felt the coverage needed updating to cater for numerous professionals who are working from home, such as cake-makers, accountants, crafts, and well-being services.
She said: “Our view is that our trades and professions product is already serving contract trades such as builders, painters and decorators and other allied trades, really well.
“We are building on that by changing the name to include home workers to signal to brokers that this product can offer so much more than it already does.”
Lidster said that this decision was inspired by feedback from brokers, who told Zurich they “didn’t think there was an obvious home” in the market for businesses that work from home.
She said: “From some government data that we’ve looked at, we know that 56% of the UK small and medium-sized businesses are home-based.
“Hearing that feedback and then looking at those numbers, we felt compelled to come to the market with this product.”
“The product itself is a public and product liability core product, which is essential cover for home workers; it also has the option for business stock and employers liability as add-ons, and we’ve now got a wide trade footprint on the product to include things like cake making, businesses working from home, crafting, and accountants.”
Previous moves
This follows Zurich’s move earlier this year, revealed by Post, to add 50 new online retailer trades to its online commercial combined insurance platform for SMEs.
The firm also stated at the British Insurance Brokers’ Conference earlier this year that it's targeting 30% growth for its SME division this year.
Lidster said the insurer has “aggressive targets” when it comes to its SME growth, which the insurer later confirmed were 30% in new business in 2025, following the firm’s equal level growth in 2024.
She also spoke of Zurich’s commercial combined offering at Biba, saying that the insurer made numerous improvements to the service following a new feedback initiative dubbed ‘The Voice’.
She said: “We had feedback last year from an industry survey that said the insurance market was taking too long to respond to commercial combined referrals, and that it was really a daunting experience.
“We took that feedback on and launched a dynamic referral document at the end of last year.
“So, if a broker is doing a quote with us that goes into referral and we need more information, rather than having to live chat with us, the questions that we need answers to will be right there in Acturis, and that’s dynamic based on the referral type.”
This article was published originally by Insurance Post. You can read the original article here.
