Insurance for self-employed bookkeeper help!! - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

joyful1 · Newbie

Insurance for self-employed bookkeeper help!!

Peasie · Expert

There is no insurance you must have (unless it is a membership requirement of a bookkeeping organisation) but Professional Indemnity Insurance would be advisable.

Wella · Expert

Hi Joy and welcome

There are no mandatory insurances required, unless you are a member in practice of a bookkeeping/ accounting institution. then it will probably be Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)

The only mandatory thing you have to sign up to, is the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR), which again is usually dealt with if you are a member of an institute, or by signing up directly with HMRC (for a fee)

Other than that, I would highly recommend PII and depending on circumstances, possibly public liability insurance.

There is also a question of whether you will need to register under the Data Protection Act also.

HTH
Bill

Julie Hall · Senior Member

Hi there, I have both professional indemnity (certainly recommend it) and public liablity, it is worth typing these words into google for explaination of different insurances. Hope this helps clarify.

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Joy,

Not sure if your registered with ICB but they have a good deal on professional indemnity insurance, try www.icbpi.com for a quick online quote.

Like the others, PII (professional indemnity) is highly recommend, and required if you are registered with any professional body. Public Liability varies so check what it covers, it is highly recommend if you have customers visiting you at your office, (if you work from home contact your household insurance they might be able to include it).

Here is some info on Public Liability: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1074301656&type=RESOURCES

Merlion ABS · Senior Member

If you join the Federation of Small Business, you may get insurances cheaper.

joyful1 · Newbie

Thank you all for your posts this has really helped. I hadn't got a clue where to start with insurances.

The data protection guy came to do a slot on my business course, he said that it would be about £35 to register with them and its a must.

I'm not a member of the ICB but I definately want to be, thats next on the list.

So much to do, so little time, I have my first client yey!

Thanks all again

Best regards

Joyful

kjmcculloch · Guru

Have a look through this forum. There has been a lot of discussion around data protection. It's not always necessary.

Kris

ProBowlUK · Senior Member

Just checked online with Trafalgar - with IAB Membership ...
quote for the minimum cover shown (£100,000) -
with £15,000 estimated turnover was £198+
(Not sure if there was anyone on here suggesting £50 ?)

It's all beginning to add up before even starting ...
anyone like to estimate what it will all cost me to start ?

IAB Membership ..... £ 80.00 pa
....... admin fee ....... £ 25.00
....... exemption fee    £ 25.00
....... Compliance ..... £ 76.38 pa
PI insurance ... ....... £ 198.00 pa
HMRC   - MLR ......... £    ??.?? pa
Data Protection fee   £   35.00
software ................. £   ???.??

have I missed anything ?
oh, yes ... stationery, advertising, telephone answering, ...

ah, well -   in for a penny .....

-- Edited by ProBowlUK on Monday 11th of October 2010 10:40:23 PM

kjmcculloch · Guru

Bob,

I paid £47.25 for my PI with trafalgar.

If you're a practising member of IAB you wont need to pay HMRC for MLR. Regarding stationery, if you have a decent printer just print letterheads as you need them to begin with, this'll give you an idea of how many you need when you come to getting them printed. It's still probably worth getting a professional designer to put together the design though.

The call answering, I use answer.co.uk, they charge £1 per call on a PAYG basis which is good. I found many people would not leave messages on voicemail but are happy to leave a message with a human.

Take care with your advertising budget, it's really easy to get carried away, or believe pushy salespeople that you need to buy pens, or advertise in their directory. Think out your advertising strategy before hand.

Good luck with the plunge.

Kris

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Bob,

IAB, AAT and ICB have use the same insurer, but I belive ICB has a greater discount (larger numbers).

With the details you gave me, ICB PI costs £164, however, probably for your turnover you might want £50,000 cover which is £114 (£84 cheaper than IAB).

Kris is right, as long as IAB are covering you for MLR you don't need HMRC supervision.

ProBowlUK · Senior Member

Trafalgar's online quote form did not show me an option for £50,000 cover.

Could the Practising "licence" (ie: "Compliance") be another
name for the MLR supervision ??

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Bob,

It could be, however, most of us separate the MLR Supervision from the Practice Licence due to joint memberships with other bodies.

Therefore I would double check you are registered for MLR.

I know with the AAT it is another fee for MLR on top of the Practice Licence, unsure if IAB do the same. The ICB spearate the two but the MLR is free.

Re the 50k cover, maybe IAB don't have that option, try www.icbpi.com and click Quick Quote to compare.