Public Liability Insurance for Electricians

Public liability insurance for electricians pays compensation and legal costs if your work injures a member of the public or damages property that belongs to someone else, subject to the policy wording. It is rarely the only cover an electrician needs: if you employ anyone, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement, and cover for tools, contract works and design or advice work may also fit how you trade.

What can go wrong on an electrical job?

For an electrician the realistic risks include:

• A fire or electric shock traced back to a connection, fitting or circuit you installed.
• Damage to a customer’s plaster, flooring, decoration or furniture while chasing cables or lifting floorboards.
• A householder, tenant or visitor tripping over a cable, tool bag or open floor void.
• Drilling into a hidden water pipe and bringing down the ceiling of the room below.
• Disturbing asbestos in an older building and exposing other people to it.

Asbestos deserves its own mention. HSE tells workers to take extra care where a building was built or refurbished before the year 2000, says around 5,000 people die every year from asbestos related diseases, and tells workers to establish whether asbestos is likely to be disturbed before they start. Some liability policies limit or exclude asbestos claims, so read that part of the wording.

Example. Dan is a self employed electrician who rewires the kitchen in a 1960s house. Two weeks later a junction box he fitted behind a cupboard overheats and starts a small fire. Nobody is hurt, but the units, ceiling and the family’s belongings are smoke damaged, and the family have to stay elsewhere while the kitchen is repaired. Their home insurer pays them and then claims the cost back from Dan. Without public liability cover he would face that claim, and the cost of defending it, himself. With cover, the insurer would deal with the claim, subject to the policy terms and excess. The cost of putting right his own faulty junction box is a separate question, and depends on what the policy says about the work itself.

Which covers fit an electrician’s work?

Most electricians build their insurance from the same few parts. Which ones you need depends on whether you work alone or employ people, whether you design installations, and whether you work in homes or on larger sites.

Cover	What it deals with	Who it fits
Public liability	Injury to other people and damage to their property caused by your work	Any electrician working in homes, businesses or on site
Employers’ liability	Compensation if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you	Compulsory once you employ staff, with cover of at least £5 million
Tools and equipment	Theft of or damage to tools and test equipment, including from a van if the policy allows	Anyone who could not work for a week without their kit
Contract works	Damage to the installation you are working on before it is handed over	Larger jobs, and contracts that ask you to insure the works
Professional indemnity	Claims that your design, specification or advice was wrong and caused a financial loss	Electricians who design systems or give paid advice
Product liability	Injury or damage caused by goods you supply	Electricians who supply fittings and equipment; it may be included with public liability, so check

Our guides to what public liability insurance is and employers’ liability requirements go into more detail. GOV.UK says you do not need employers’ liability insurance if the only person you employ is a family member, such as a husband, wife, son or brother.

What will clients, letting agents and main contractors ask for?

Private householders rarely ask to see a policy, but many other customers do. Letting agents, housing associations, commercial landlords, facilities managers, schools and councils may ask for a copy of your public liability certificate before giving you work, and may set a minimum limit of indemnity in their contract. Main contractors may ask for public liability, employers’ liability if you have staff, and sometimes professional indemnity if you are designing part of the installation.

Read the contract before you sign it. Some ask you to note the client’s interest on your policy, to hold a set limit for each claim, or to insure the works you are installing. If the requirement is higher than your current cover, ask us to check the policy can be changed before the job starts. Our page on how much public liability insurance you need explains how limits are chosen.

How do building regulations and electrical safety rules affect your cover?

An insurer will want to know that you work within the rules for electrical work, because your paperwork is the evidence used to defend a claim. GOV.UK guidance on building work in the home says the installation of a new or replacement consumer unit, or any new circuit connected to it, is notifiable unless the installer is registered with a Competent Person Scheme. Alterations around a bath or shower are notifiable too. A registered installer can self certify, and the guidance says the homeowner should receive a certificate of compliance within 30 days of the work being completed.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 also require every work activity on or near an electrical system to be carried out so as not to give rise, so far as is reasonably practicable, to danger. If a fire is blamed on your work months later, your certificates, test results, photographs and job notes are what show the installation was safe when you left it. Keep them for every job.

Do electricians need professional indemnity insurance?

Public liability is written around injury and physical damage. A claim that your design was wrong and cost the client money, with nothing physically damaged, is a different kind of claim. An example is an undersized supply that has to be upgraded before a shop can open.

If you design installations, prepare specifications, carry out condition reports for a fee, or advise customers on EV charger or solar PV capacity, a professional indemnity policy may be worth considering. Our guide to professional indemnity insurance explains how it works and how it differs from public liability.

What drives the price of cover for an electrician?

We do not quote typical prices because they vary so much. These are the things insurers weigh up:

• The type of work: domestic jobs, commercial fit outs, industrial or high voltage work, and work in hazardous places are each viewed differently.
• The limit of indemnity you choose for each claim.
• Your turnover, your wage roll and how many people work for you, including labour only subcontractors.
• Your claims history and how long you have been trading.
• Your qualifications, scheme membership and record keeping.
• Any work at height or on roofs, for example fitting solar panels, and any heat work.
• The excess you agree to pay on each property damage claim.

What should you have ready when you ask for a quote?

• Your business name, whether you trade as a sole trader, partnership or limited company, and how long you have been trading.
• A description of the work you do and the rough split between domestic, commercial and industrial jobs.
• Estimated turnover for the next 12 months and wages for any employees.
• Details of subcontractors you use and whether they hold their own insurance.
• The limit of indemnity your clients or contracts ask for.
• Any claims or incidents in the last five years, including ones that did not lead to a payment.
• The value of your tools and where they are kept overnight.

Answer the questions fully. For business insurance, section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 requires you to make a fair presentation of the risk before the contract is entered into, which includes disclosing every material circumstance you know or ought to know. Our guide to fair presentation explains what that means in practice. Solar Protect is an FCA authorised insurance broker: ask us for a quote and we will look for cover that fits your work, or call 01795 841 310, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Frequently asked questions

Is public liability insurance a legal requirement for electricians?

The legal requirement that applies to most trades is employers’ liability, once you employ staff. Public liability is the cover that clients, agents and main contractors may make a condition of giving you work. Our page on whether public liability insurance is compulsory covers this in more detail.

Does public liability cover my own faulty workmanship?

It depends on the policy wording. Some policies deal with the damage your work causes to other property but not the cost of putting right the faulty work itself. Check the exclusions before you rely on it, and see our page on whether public liability covers damage to client property.

What happens if I take on an apprentice without employers’ liability insurance?

GOV.UK says you can be fined £2,500 for every day you are not properly insured, and could be fined £1,000 if you do not display your certificate where employees can see it. Arrange the cover before the apprentice starts.

Will my policy cover solar panel or EV charger installation?

Only if the insurer knows you do that work and the policy wording allows it. Solar installation often means working on roofs, which insurers view differently from indoor work. Our page for roofers covers the work at height side, and our page for plumbers covers heating and heat work.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Employers liability insurance
• HSE: Workers
• legislation.gov.uk: 3
• GOV.UK: Building work replacements and repairs to your home
• legislation.gov.uk: 4

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 10 November 2026. Solar Protect is the trading name of Solar Insurance Services (Medway) Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This page is general information, not personal advice.