Best Business Insurance Companies UK 2024

NimbleFins Top Business Insurance Companies

Wondering which insurer to approach for your business insurance? We can help. NimbleFins conducted an analysis of over 100 quotes for Professional Indemnity, Public Liability, Employers Liability and Cyber insurance in order to produce this list of our top UK business insurers.

Read on for our ranked list of insurers, complete with pros & cons, and find out what’s special about each of them.

List of Top Business Insurance Companies

Top Business Insurance Companies UK

In 2021 there were over 170 general liability business insurers in the UK – that’s a lot to keep track of! Of course, many of these will be niche or specialist insurers, so of the fewer more general business insurers you will likely recognise some of the names and logos on this page.

We use a combination of measurable data and experienced opinion when rating insurers. Factors include cover levels available, number of professions, average premiums, average review scores and policy features. Each of these contributes to our final score.

Every company in this list has a broad range of covers applicable to most businesses. Here’s what you should know about these companies before you decide what’s best for you.

1. AXA

AXA have a broad range of usually well-priced covers for most business types. In addition to offering a comprehensive range of suitable covers there are a few stand-out features which put AXA firmly on top in our opinion.

Providing both professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance at consistently reasonable prices, AXA also caters to higher risk businesses such as accountants, financial service professionals and on the liability side of things can cover builders and manual trades. You can also purchase your home, car and health insurance (among others) through AXA, meaning you might be able to get every policy you need under the same roof.

AXA’s website offers a range of customisation options for your policy, with you able to quickly see the effect of adding additional covers or optional add-ons to your quote. Their final pricing is competitive but you can often find coupons or vouchers online or through browser addons like Honey, which further reduce the premium.

Lastly, when leaving AXA’s site we found that sometimes they will offer you a cheeky 15% additional discount. All of this means that not only are they able to cater to many professions but they have some of the most competitive pricing we have seen.

Quick Takeaway: AXA are usually competitively priced with comprehensive cover options and a range of positive reviews online. Even if you can’t obtain cover through their website you can call them to discuss your needs; given their size and range they may be able to offer you a bespoke or third-party sourced policy to suit.

2. DirectLine

Able to cover almost as many business types as AXA and with a similar level of customisability and user-friendliness on their website, DirectLine is our number two because they don’t have quite the same range of professional indemnity cover and occupation options. They do still offer a comprehensive selection with the added bonus of providing car, home, life and travel insurance covers for anyone who prefers to have all of their policies with the same provider.

For any business looking for public and employers’ liability only, DirectLine might be your number one. At £25.20 at the time of writing they offer admin professionals the lowest public liability premium we have ever seen! Add to that their ability to cater to a range of height and depth work options for manual professions such as builders or electricians, and DirectLine is still an excellent choice for picking up your business insurance at a competitive price.

Adding on professional indemnity is quick and easy through their website, and whilst they don’t offer that cover for surveyors, every other profession we tried had some level or type of professional indemnity available. Like AXA you can call them to discuss your needs if the website doesn’t appear to have what you’re after.

Quick Takeaway: Direct Line can do almost everything AXA can, and in some cases it appears they can do it for a more reasonable premium. Like AXA, consider requesting discounts for their quotes, especially if you already have other insurance policies through DirectLine.

3. Aviva

For those that can obtain cover with them, Aviva have some of the best policy features on the market, with additional covers, services and extra limits. Their shop/retailer policies are very comprehensive and they provide a relatively broad range of other covers for an equally broad range of professions. Their Trustpilot rating is the highest of the providers we reviewed.

Unfortunately if you are an accountant or surveyor looking for professional indemnity in a hurry, Aviva can’t help through their website, although by calling them or buying through a broker it might still be possible to obtain a policy. Sports coaches appear to be out of luck for public liability as well, but builders and other manual tradesmen will be happy to hear that Aviva’s options include work up to 15m and depth up to 3m.

Like Directline and AXA, Aviva offer a range of other personal policies, and may offer discounts to customers who make use of them for their personal and business insurances.

Lastly, Aviva’s website is polished and easy to navigate, with explanations, prompts and access to information for anyone needing assistance mid-quote. Aviva also called us back within 24h of our test quote hitting their website – nice!

Quick Takeaway: If you fall into their desired business activities you can’t go wrong with an Aviva policy. Their customer service is excellent and supported by their high Trustpilot rating.

4. Markel Direct

Markel Direct are a professional indemnity specialist with a range of other available covers, and one of the quickest most straightforward quote processes we’ve seen in the course of our testing. In just a few questions they are able to offer terms on several occupations with the exception of hairdressers, builders and gift shops.

Providers of professional services should certainly consider Markel Direct as a strong contender when it comes to broad cover, with cyber insurance an optional extra. For those quotes we received Markel Direct’s prices were competitive for both indemnity and liability policies, and their agents were quick to call us back after our quote had gone through their system (implying responsive customer service).

Markel Direct is rated 4/5 with trustpilot, a strong score, and as a professional indemnity specialist may well be able to cover professionals struggling to find cover elsewhere.

Quick Takeaway: Can’t get professional indemnity from AXA, Aviva or DirectLine? Markel Direct are likely to be able to help for a usually competitive premium, especially for niche or unusual professions.

5. Hiscox

Another professional indemnity specialist, in this case with a history of over 100 years, Hiscox have a broad range of available covers but if you carry out manual work or need public liability for anything overly risky, Hiscox may not be able to help.

Whilst not the cheapest in some cases, for those in particular need of specialist or competitive professional indemnity, Hiscox is a great contender for Markel Direct and tend to offer comprehensive, understandable policies. They pride themselves on a high level of customer service and have an OK Trustpilot rating of 3.1/5 and a much better Feefo rating of 4.6/5.

It is worth noting that Hiscox did receive some negative publicity as a result of their stance on business interruption claim payments during the pandemic. Whilst they have reversed this stance and appear to be paying a portion of these claims much of their poor reviews on Trustpilot appear to focus on this one issue and as far as other covers such as public liability or professional indemnity go the review consensus is higher.

Quick Takeaway: Hiscox are another professional indemnity specialist company and very useful for anyone providing professional services. Trustpilot reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt as they are not necessarily applicable to the entire company.

6. Chiswell

Chiswell are a managing general agent (MGA), meaning they offer policies which are underwritten by one or more other insurance companies, which can be subject to change as the years go by or depending on your business activities. We have included them in this list because they do have a broad range of covers and their policies are different to AXA in terms of who they can cover and the premiums they charge.

Chiswell were able to offer a broad range of professional indemnity policies to every one of our test businesses except hairdressers and gift shops. This means builders and sports coaches may be able to get competitive quotes from Chiswell.

Set up by Simply Business, you’ll have to go to their site for a Chiswell quote but trustpilot ratings are good and pricing is also generally good with the exception of one secretarial services public liability quote for £1,600 we obtained, likely due to a glitch! If you ever do get an automated quote like this it’s worth contacting the company direct, as a price this high is almost certainly the product of an error. Other covers were well within expected ranges in terms of premium.

Quick Takeaway: Chiswell are a viable, competitive insurer, although the fact that they are offered through Simply Business and underwritten by third parties may introduce some delays or additional steps in the event of a claim, hence their position lower on this list.

7. Covéa

Covéa are a great liability insurer for most business types, although you may struggle to obtain a professional indemnity quote from them.

We were unable to obtain a professional indemnity quote from Covéa online, although we could get public liability quotes for all of our trades with the exception of gift shops. Covéa do have a great tradesman’s policy and can cover several other occupations. Unfortunately they are not available except through a comparison site or brokerage, which means your experience of their policies may vary depending on who is providing them.

Quick Takeaway: Covéa are a good insurer with usually reasonably priced policies. As they are only available through brokers or comparison sites you will be dealing with that broker or site in the event of a claim, which can be good or bad depending on the broker.

No Trustpilot scores as your experience will vary depending on the broker/source of your policy.

8. Zurich & Ageas

We have included both Zurich and Ageas in this list as a point of awareness; these insurers can offer a variety of liability covers for a range of businesses including tradesmen.

The reason they occupy one space on this list is because our experience of them is very similar; each is only available through a broker and each has several areas of specialism. If they are the right insurer for you, your broker or comparison site will be able to find you a competitively priced, suitable policy.

As with Covéa above, however, your experience of these insurers will be highly dependent on the broker or comparison site you obtain cover through, even down to the extent and price of the policy you are offered, depending on any special terms or fee arrangements each insurer has made with that broker.

As such we can’t recommend one or the other as ‘best for’ any category, but for businesses preferring or requiring the services of a broker you will be recommended the best one for your particular needs.

What we can say is that in our experience each insurer has a robust selection of policies with industry-standard features and benefits. They belong on this list because they are still some of the best business insurers out there today.

Quick Takeaway: If they are right for you these will be excellent choices for all of your cover requirements, or as part of a portfolio of covers arranged for your business by an intermediary.

No Trustpilot scores, again due to experience being heavily influenced by the broker administering the policy and any broker-unique features.