The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.

Average Cost of Dog Walking Insurance (2024)

The average cost of dog walking insurance starts from around £54 a year or £6.50 a month for a sole trader in the UK. This seems like a reasonable amount considering a dog walker can earn over £10 taking one dog on one walk. However, dog walking insurance costs can be higher depending on a number of factors. Here's what you need to know about dog walking insurance costs.

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Average Cost of Dog Walking Insurance

The average cost of public liability insurance with £2 million of cover for a dog walker is £54 for a self employed person (i.e., a sole trader). However if you go into partnership with someone or form a limited liability company you can expect to pay 15% to 200% more for insurance. In fact, having multiple directors in a limited liability company can ramp up insurance premiums by 3X (compared to just one director).

Average cost of £2m of dog walking public liability insurance (per year)
Sole Trader£54
Partnership£78
Limited Liability Company (1 director)£63
Limited Liability Company (2 directors)£163
chart showing the average cost of dog walking public liability insurance

How does coverage level affect dog walking insurance costs?

In addition to the nature of your business, another factor determining your premium is the level of cover. The higher your cover limits, the higher your premium. However, each additional £ million of coverage costs less. For example, a sole trader would pay on average £52 for the first £1 million of public liability cover, but just £2 for the next additional million of cover as you can see in the chart below.

chart showing the average cost of dog walking insurance by amount of cover

How does hiring employees affect dog walking insurance costs?

Hiring an employee can drastically increase your dog walking insurance costs, because you're required by law to have employers' liability cover if you have anyone working for you—even if they're family and/or they work on a part-time basis.

In fact, adding the cost of employers' liability cover with £2m of dog walking public liability insurance can add in the range of £60 to £300 to your all-in premium. Sole traders pay the least for employers' liability—around £60 for one employee and £110 for two employees. In contrast, limited liability companies with 2 or more directors can pay on the order £300 for employers' liability insurance for 2 workers.

chart showing the average cost of dog walking insurance with employers' liability

Other factors that influence your dog walking insurance rate

There are many factors that affect your dog walking insurance premiums. For instance, where you live and run your business can have a drastic effect on rates, causing price differences between different local areas of 20% or even more.

In addition, choosing extras like business contents, legal or personal accident cover will add to your dog walking insurance rates.

If you use your car to transport dogs as part of your business, you'll need to tell your car insurance company and this could affect your premium.

How to Save Money on Dog Walking Insurance

To save money on dog walking insurance, it is helpful to compare the market because prices can vary drastically from insurance company to insurance company. For example, in our study the range of prices for a self-employed, sole trader with 2 employees ranged from £50 to £311. Granted, there can be reasons for premium differences such as extra coverages or the excess, but those on a budget should be especially careful to get quotes from multiple sources.

Choosing a higher excess is another way to get a discount on your dog walking insurance; but this may not suit everyone. Oftentimes the premium reduction is quite insignificant when you consider the additional amount you'd need to pay in the event of a covered claim.

Another good way to save money on insurance is paying upfront for the whole year. This will save you from paying for interest charges that are typically applied to monthly payments. Paying annually instead of monthly will typically keep your dog walking insurance costs 12.5% lower.

Finally, don't pay for cover you don't need. For example, if your only "stock" is a few bags of dog treats then don't pay for stock cover.

  • Compare quotes
  • Check excesses
  • Pay annually
  • Don't buy cover you don't need

Methodology

To find the average cost of dog walking insurance, we gathered dozens of quotes for public liability insurance, with and without employers' liability cover (which is required by law if anyone works for you). We varied quotes by different factors like the level of cover and type of business. All quotes used in this study included cover for loss or injury to pets.

Please note that insurance prices can vary significantly from situation to situation depending on the details of your application. As a result, the price you need to pay might be higher or lower than the rates mentioned here. Use this information just as a rough guide to help you learn more about prices and how different factors can affect insurance rates in a general way—this can be especially helpful if you're just thinking of starting a dog walking business.

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The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.