Legal protection insurance

Legal protection insurance can help cover your business for a wide range of things that could strike out of the blue and impact your day-to-day. It’s a source of financial support for certain types of legal issues if you need to defend yourself.  

For instance, you may experience an employment dispute with a staff member (or ex-employee), or a contractual disagreement with a supplier. Issues surrounding damage to your business property or trespass could even throw a spanner in the works and mean you need support to explore your legal rights. 

You may have sold goods or provided a service that you haven’t been paid for or may face proceedings after a tax compliance check. 

When you have the protection of this type of insurance, your business will receive help with cover for the costs involved in legal action. This includes: 

• Solicitors’ and barristers’ fees 
• Court costs 
• Expert witness expenses 
• Attendance expenses 
• Accountants’ fees 
• The cost of an appeal or the defence of an appeal 

In addition to your cover, you’ll also get free access to expert tax and legal advice. 

Hiscox legal protection insurance cannot be purchased alone. Instead, it can be purchased alongside any other cover type as part of a business insurance policy. This includes professional indemnity, cyber, public and employers’ liability insurance. 

Small businesses may find they need the safety net of legal protection insurance to offset the risk of disputes, trespass, tax complaints or legal action against your business – especially if there would be no way to fund legal cases without it.  

A copy editor at your publisher business could consistently make errors, leading you to dismiss them after several warnings. If they say they’re taking the business to an employment tribunal, legal protection insurance could help pay for a solicitor to be appointed. 

For a painter and decorator, tools and materials are vital. However, if a business yard is accessed by trespassers, damage to fencing and kit could come with a price tag. This cover can help fund action so the business isn’t striving to recover these costs alone. 

Software developers, graphic designers and digital marketing start-ups might take on big, exciting contracts. But what if you chase for months and the client still doesn’t pay? If civil proceedings become the only option, legal protection insurance can assist with financing the action required for the debt to be paid. 

As soon as you become a business owner or a self-employed professional, anyone can file proceedings against your business, so legal protection insurance could become relevant from day one.  

Whether you run an exciting tech start-up or a well-established management consultancy business, you want your focus to remain on making the company a success.  

Legal disputes from employees, customers, contractors or even HM Revenue and Customs may throw you off your stride. Having the right legal insurance for your business from the moment you start trading could provide the protection you need to get on with what you do best.  

How much legal protection insurance you need will likely depend on the size of your business and the nature of the work you do, plus the clients you service.  

We’ll work with you to make sure your policy fits your needs and we'll also give you access to free, expert legal advice through our Business Support Hub. 

Hiscox can cover you up to £500,000 for legal costs when defending a claim. The cover options are £100,000, £250,000 and £500,000. This could help cover the appointment of solicitors, barristers and expert witnesses. 

For this cover, the limit of indemnity means the maximum amount we could pay for all claims resulting from events that happen during the same time or because of a shared cause. 

If a contractual dispute about your commercial tenancy means your business faces a bill for direct legal costs, solicitor fees, accountants’ fees and court costs, then your cover limit should be at least as high as the sum of these. 

It may also be important to set your cover limits based on what you feel a worst case scenario could cost. 

Hiscox legal protection insurance includes cover for legal costs, including: 

• Compensation for an employee – past, present or future – who has taken action through an employment tribunal 
• The pursuit of your legal rights if your property is damaged or you’re having problems with trespassers 
• Negotiation of legal rights involving contractual disputes over the purchase, hire, sale or provision of goods and services 
• The legal action needed to recover a debt for goods and services exceeding £250 
• Negotiations on your behalf and representation for appeal proceedings involving Income Tax or Corporation Tax compliance checks 
• Legal defence costs if your business faces non-motor criminal prosecutions or civil action for breaching certain legislation 
• Legal proceedings involving the bodily injury of employees.