Charity insurance Charity insurance

Charities and non-profits come in all shapes and sizes. Our personalised insurance lets you choose the covers that makes sense for yours, with no extra fees for adjusting your policy when you need to.

Be quote confident. We'll beat the price of any like-for-like quote. T&Cs apply.

Not sure where to start?

Find out what covers businesses like yours choose

Find your cover

What does charity insurance cover?

When running a not-for-profit you need all the time you have to work towards you cause. But while you're doing that, it's important to consider and protect yourself against the risks that you – like any other business – face.

Superscript guides you through your cover options, and enables you to choose your level of cover. Popular choices for charities include:

  • Public liability
  • Employers' liability
  • Professional indemnity
  • And, increasingly, cyber insurance

Be quote confident

We're big on fairness. So if you find a lower price for a comparable quote, we won't just match it – we'll go one better and beat it.

So even better than apples to apples, apples to better apples. We're talking Galas to Braeburns.

As you'd expect, T&Cs apply.

What insurance does a charity need?

Public liability insurance and employers' liability insurance are two key covers for charities, but there are others too that may be needed to protect your organisation.

Public liability insurance for charities

Whether you operate from an office or remotely, public liability insurance should be top of your insurance agenda.

If someone has an accident, becomes ill or has their property damaged because of your business, it could lead to a costly lawsuit. Public liability insurance is designed to cover the legal and compensation costs, so your business doesn’t have to.

Employers' liability insurance

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement in the UK for most businesses with employees. It's there to protect your business against legal and compensation costs if an employee were to make a claim against you due to injury at work.

Superscript's employer's liability insurance includes £10 million of cover as standard.

Professional indemnity insurance

If your charity offers a professional service or advice, professional indemnity insurance is something to seriously consider. It can cover your legal costs if you make a mistaken that costs a client money, or you fail to fulfil a business contract. Our professional indemnity insurance also includes media liability cover as standard which can cover your costs in the event of accidental copyright infringement.

Media liability insurance

Media liability insurance is an important cover for many charities. Charities will often feature peoples' stories and work with public figures or celebrities, involving complex contracts and sometimes sensitive topics. Being sued for the content you publish is a real risk. Media liability is covered automatically when you take out Superscript's professional indemnity cover.

Business equipment insurance

If you're reliant on equipment to do your work, business equipment cover covers the costs to repair or replace your vital equipment if something gets lost, stolen or damaged, so you can get back up and running without missing a beat.

Cyber insurance

Although cyber insurance isn't a legal requirement, with GDPR regulations in force, an accidental data breach could land you with a fine of £17.5m or 4% of annual turnover – whichever is higher – and a PR disaster. If you experience a data breach, our cyber insurance can cover GDPR regulatory penalties, where insurable by law. Some risks and solutions that can be covered by cyber insurance include:

  • Cyber extortion and ransomware
  • Business Interruption - including interruption from a business within your supply chain
  • Payment card liabilities (PCI-DSS) - if your business processes payments and you suffer a data breach
  • Media liability
  • Reputation management services

Once you've completed a quote, you'll be able to view a summary of cover. Please always refer to your policy documents for full details around exclusions, terms and limits of your customised cover. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents.

We can insure a large variety of charities and non-profits

There are many different kinds of not-for-profit organisations that perform all kinds of work in communities and industries up and down the country.

Here are some examples of the many types of non-profit that we can insure:

  • Charitable trusts
  • Cooperative Societies
  • Unincorporated associations
  • Charitable companies
  • Community Benefit Societies

To check if we cover your needs as a not-for-profit organisation, simply click 'Start your quote'.

Charity and non-profit organisation insurance claims

Charity insurance can offer protection against a range of different risks that charities and not-for-profit organisations may face. Here are a few examples of possible claims scenarios:

Injured charity volunteer

A volunteer fundraiser is injured while working at your charity event. Your employers' liability insurance can cover the legal and compensation costs in the event that the volunteer makes a claim against the charity.

As your aim to raise funds for your charity, you accidentally use a copyrighted image in your publicity. Media liability insurance can cover the cost of compensation if a claim is made against you.

Misleading advice

Your not-for-profit organisation advises businesses on financial matters and this advice leads to the company losing money. Professional indemnity insurance can cover the cost of any compensation.

Broken Phone

At a fun run event, the speakers are set up with loose cables. A member of the public trips and breaks their phone. Your public liability cover can pay the cost of the damage if a claim is made.

Meet our claims team

This is Luke, a Cert CII qualified claims handler and our in-house claims executive here at Superscript. Hi, Luke!

If you are making a claim for lost, stolen or damaged equipment, then Luke or one of our expert claims team will ask you as little as six quick questions, such as 'when and how was the item damaged?' and 'do you have proof of purchase?'.

Once you've answered the questions, they can then begin to resolve your claim and send your payment for processing that very same day!

If your claim is for legal or compensation costs, then the team will handle the process for you and keep you updated every step of the way.

How do claims work?

1

Notify us of the claim

Contact us by email at claims@gosuperscript.com, by 24/7 freephone on 0800 772 3059 or by logging in to your customer portal.

Ideally this should be done as soon as possible and within 30 days of you becoming aware of anything which you think may be covered by your insurance.

A good indicator of whether or not to let us know is if there’s an issue which may require a payment to be made on your behalf.

2

We'll get on the case

We’ll acknowledge your claim within 24 hours, and sometimes in as little as 30 minutes! This means you’ll receive email confirmation of your claims reference and contact information should you need to speak to us.

We will then reach out to you within 48 hours to request any extra information we need to progress your claim.

We’ll keep you updated on the next steps as the claim progresses.

3

A decision is made

We’ll let you know if your claim is successful or not. If your claim isn’t covered, we will always try to point you in the right direction and support you as best we can in getting back to normal.

Read about the most common reasons claims aren't paid.

If your claim is successful, once we have all the documents we need, we will aim to settle claims such as accidental damage, theft and lost equipment within five working days.

Charity insurance FAQs

What is charity insurance?

Charity insurance isn't a specific insurance policy as such, but refers to any business insurance covers a charity may need. The most common covers for charitable organisations include public liability insurance, employers' liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance.

How do I get charity insurance?

You can get a quote for charity insurance with Superscript by clicking on the ‘Get a quote’ button.

The process can take as little as 4 minutes and will involve answering a number of questions about your charity to determine what selection of covers you need.

At the end of a successful quotation process, you'll be given the option to buy your cover immediately, or you can buy it up to 30 days later.

If you get stuck, our customer success team is available on chat, email and phone to help you out!

How much does charity insurance cost?

Your charity insurance quote will vary depending on a number of factors, such as how many employees you have and your turnover. There are a few more factors that influence the cost of business insurance, so it's worth reading up on it.

Are charities required to have insurance by law?

Most business insurance covers are not required by law. The key exception to this is employers' liability cover, which is required by law for any business with employees, including charities. Not having it, if you do have employees, can result in a fine of up to £2,500 per day for each day you don't have the right cover in place.

Do charities need professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity is not required by law in the UK, but it is considered a core cover for any businesses (including not-for-profits) and organisations (including charities).

If your organisation gives professional advice (including advice posted on your website or social media) then professional indemnity insurance can protect you against a claim made by another organisation or individual if they lose money as a result.

Do charities need employers' liability insurance for volunteers?

In short, yes. Having employers' liability cover is a legal requirement for any charity with employees, whether they are paid or not. There are some exceptions, such as if all employees are immediate family members of the business owner, but this situation is rare.

Volunteers are categorised as employees and your organisation will need to have sufficient insurance to cover any claim resulting from a member of staff or a volunteer who is injured or becomes ill by working for the charity.

Do I need public liability insurance for a charity event?

Public liability insurance can help protect your charity if a member of the public is injured or their property is damaged as a result of your event. PL insurance can cover the cost of compensation for any claim that may arise and without this cover, your charity may have to shoulder the cost of the claim from its own finances.

What's the difference between charities and non-profits?

'Not-for-profit' is a catch-all term to describe any organisation who's activities are not for the financial benefit of the owner, board of directors or shareholders. Charities are one example of a not-for-profit organisation and, as an entity, they must meet certain criteria to be considered a charity and be eligible to register with The Charity Commission.

For instance, while charities are allowed to engage in political activity to campaign for a change in the law, it must be strictly in alignment with their charitable purpose. They cannot engage in partisan political campaigning. Non-charitable non-profit organisations are allowed to engage in party political campaigning.

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A-rated financial strength

Our insurance products are underwritten by Standard & Poor’s A-rated financial strength or higher. This means the underwriter has been independently assessed by the world’s leading credit rating provider and found to have a strong capacity to meet financial commitments (pay claims).

Protected by the FSCS

If you are a business with an annual turnover under £1m, charity with an annual income under £1m, or trust with net assets under £1m, then you will be entitled to compensation from the FSCS in the unlikely event we cannot meet our obligations. Full details and further information on the scheme are available at www.fscs.org.uk.