The New Working From Home World
April 26, 2022When government guidelines about working from home were scrapped in January 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 36% of the employed population still worked from home at least once in the past seven days because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Even by the 1st of April 2022, the Daily Mail reported that one in four of the working population still worked from home for all or at least part of the week.
But it has probably been a reluctant return to the office for the 60% of respondents who – at the height of the pandemic – told YouGov on the 28th of September 2021 that they would always prefer to work from home if given the chance.
If working from home is here to stay, what does that have to say about the need for home insurance?
What home insurance is needed for someone working from home?
It is thanks to the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic lockdowns that your existing home insurance probably gives you greater flexibility than ever in maintaining the cover you need.
Guidance from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) makes clear that you will need to inform your home insurance provider that you are working from home – and might need to amend the provisions of your cover – only if:
- you have business visitors to your home – if you’re meeting clients or customers, let’s say;
- you make, store, or sell goods from your home – especially if these are hazardous or dangerous goods;
- your business includes the provision of services at home – child-minding, hairdressing, personal training, or dog grooming, for example; or
- you have adapted or extended your home in some way or invested in special equipment to accommodate your business activities.
Potential home insurance issues to consider
For many of the items you are likely to be using when working from home – your computer, desk, and telephone, for example – your existing home insurance is likely to provide sufficient cover.
If you are using equipment supplied by your employer, then adequate insurance cover is likely to have been a precaution already taken by your employer.
In either event, it is worth checking that the equipment on which your home working depends is properly covered.
If most of your time is spent working from home but you also do a certain amount of work in your or someone else’s office or on the road, you might want to think about boosting the cover for items such as your personal laptop and smartphone with personal possessions insurance.
Public liability insurance
A particular issue for those new to working from home – especially when you will be entertaining business visitors there (however infrequently) – is public liability insurance.
If anyone – a customer or a member of the public – suffers an injury or has their own property damaged during a visit when you are working from home, you may be held liable and ordered to pay compensation.
Since the level of compensation might be substantial – especially if physical injuries are concerned – public liability insurance typically provides cover for at least £1 million and is frequently much higher.
It is important to note that while your standard home insurance typically has a degree of public liability insurance, if you don’t inform your home insurer that you are having business visitors to your home, any claim you make could be invalidated.
Employers and employers’ liability insurance
Finally, it is important to remember that if you are the employer of employees who are now working from home – whether part- or full-time – you must continue to maintain the legally required employers’ liability insurance for a minimum of £5 million of cover provided by an authorised insurer.
Summary
Although your existing home insurance in the new world of working from home gives you greater flexibility than in the past, it is important to confirm that the risks to your property, liabilities, and business activities continue to be appropriately and adequately covered.