What type of insurance should an interior designer hold?

Deciding what type of business insurance suits the needs of your business can be complicated enough, let alone deciding what level of cover you require. A survey by Allianz back in 2022* found that 44% of SMEs operating in the UK did not have any business insurance at all and of those SMEs insured four in every five were underinsured.

What are the main types of business insurance that an interior designer should consider?

There are several difference types of policies, and your business needs will dictate which are appropriate.  We've created a list below of policies to consider, with the top two being the BIID's requirements for becoming a BIID Registered Interior Designer:

• Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) – Protects your business from legal claims of negligence, errors, or omissions in professional services, covering legal costs and compensation for damages arising from mistakes or failures in work.
• Public Liability – Cover against claims for injury or property damage caused to third parties, providing financial protection for legal costs and compensation resulting from accidents or incidents occurring in the course of doing business.
• Employer’s Liability – This is a legal requirement if you employ staff, stipulated under the 1969 Employer’s Liability Act.
• Products Liability – Protect yourself from legal or financial risk should a product you supply or recommend cause injury, damage or loss due to defects or failures, helping safeguard your business from costly claims.
• Legal Expenses – Provides you and your business with professional legal and financial support for a wide range of business-related legal disputes. You can also choose whether to include Contract and Debt cover as part of your policy.
• Cyber Insurance – The Department for Science innovation and Technology, recent report; ‘Cyber security breaches survey 2025’ states that just over four in ten businesses and three in ten charities had experienced some sort of cyber security breach in the past 12 months**. Cyber Insurance can protect your business from any liabilities that arise due to a breach of privacy legislation, including but not limited to the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Office Contents – In many cases, home contents policies will not cover property owned by a business and in these circumstances, an office contents policy will cover office contents/ computer equipment/ portable equipment, removing these exposures.

What’s the difference between Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance for Interior Designers?

Professional Indemnity Insurance will cover you for claims arising from professional interior design advice, designs, specifications or services that you have provided to a client.

Public Liability cover will protect you from a claim for injury or property damage caused by your business activity (this could be a client tripping over a sample you have provided at a site visit, accidental damage caused to a client’s flooring or walls or you have knocked over and broken a client’s property.)

How do I decide what limits of cover I should have?

The decision on the cover level is entirely based on your own business requirements; things that you could consider as part of you decision:

• Client and contract requirements (Professional Indemnity Insurance) – some of your clients will specify minimum limits of coverage in their contracts. If you take on a new client who has a higher minimum limit than what you have stipulated in your current insurance policy - then you should notify your insurer/brokers and may need to make a mid-term adjustment on your turnover/PI Limit.
• Consider your project values (Professional Indemnity Insurance) – What is the maximum project value you’ve designed in the past 12-24 months? Could a design error cause a full replacement or major rework and what would the cost of that be?
• How often are you on site? (Public Liability) How often are their people on site? And where is this site (commercial or private property)? – this may impact they level of liability coverage you would need to consider

When should you contact your insurer or broker?

If there is any claim made against you or you need to make any adjustment to level of cover – you should immediately notify your insurer or broker. Non-notification of claims or any change in circumstance can invalidate your insurance policy.

What is retired and run-off cover?

If you retire, close or sell your business, take a long career break/change career or even merge with another firm (depending on contract terms) you may require ‘run-off’ cover.

Run-off cover is a form or Professional Indemnity Insurance that protects you from any claims made after you have finished trading as an Interior Designer. Some PI claims for projects may occur years after the project has completed, a run-off policy will cover you for a period of time (depending on your policy) in this case.

BIID members can access preferential rates with Trafalgar Risk Management. Further details on the offer and the ability for an online quote can be accessed in the BIID Members Area.

* April 2022, ‘More SMEs insufficiently insured or not covered at all’, Allianz Global
** June 2025, ’Cyber security breaches survey 2025’, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
 

This article was authored by Trafalgar Risk Management Ltd. Nothing in this article should be construed as advice, a recommendation or endorsement. Insurance benefits are subject to underwriting criteria. 

Terms and conditions apply. See website for full details. The BIID indemnity scheme is provided for British Institute of Interior Design by Parliament Hill Ltd who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 308448. Register office address: Britannia House, 21 Station Street, Brighton, BN1 4D. Registered in England and Wales under register number: 05016537. Parliament Hill and BIID are not part of the same group as any of the product/service providers which together form the benefits scheme. Neither Parliament Hill Ltd nor Trafalgar Risk Management are members of the same group. Benefits are designed with UK resident users in mind and may not be suitable for those residents outside the UK.
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