Self Employed Insurance
Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Canberra

Self-employed people operate across trades, consulting, retail, creative work and many other activities. There is no single risk profile created by working for yourself. Start by describing what customers buy, where the work is performed and whether products, advice or physical services are involved. Explain the business structure, trading names and any second income stream. An online shop operated alongside consulting may introduce product and stock exposures that would not be apparent from a description focused only on the owner’s main occupation.

Identify the resources on which earnings depend: the owner’s ability to work, a vehicle, specialist equipment, premises, customer records or a platform account. Explain whether anyone else is employed or engaged as a contractor. Public liability, professional indemnity, property, cyber and personal accident discussions address different aspects of those dependencies. Being self-employed does not mean each of those covers is required or suitable, and it does not establish how workers compensation applies. The relevant activities and relationships need to be assessed in their actual business and jurisdictional context.

Bring customer contracts, leases, platform terms and supplier agreements to the broker. Identify commitments to replace work, meet deadlines, protect data or indemnify another party. A sole operator may accept a large client’s standard contract without having the same resources or negotiating position as a larger supplier. Ask which obligations go beyond the liabilities the proposed insurance addresses. A certificate requested by a customer should be checked against the actual work rather than purchased merely to satisfy a document-upload field.

Keep business and personal property use clear. Equipment kept at home, stock in a garage and a vehicle used for deliveries may not be treated as expected under arrangements designed for private use. Explain the use honestly and ask how it is addressed. Maintain records of revenue, expenses, assets and active jobs so values and income dependencies can be discussed accurately. If the business gives advice, consider the records retained after each engagement and the possibility of allegations arising later. Ending a job or issuing a final invoice is not the same as ending every exposure connected with it.

Consider a hypothetical week in which the owner loses both a phone and access to the booking account. The immediate problem may include missed jobs, inaccessible customer information and compromised messages. A continuity plan should identify account recovery, secure backups and a way to contact active customers. Ask the broker which parts of such an event might be addressed by selected cyber, equipment or other cover. Do not assume general business interruption responds whenever income stops; the wording usually requires a particular insured trigger.

At renewal, review what changed during the year: new services, larger contracts, staff, working locations or more valuable equipment. Discuss the financial effect of an accident or illness separately from claims made by customers. Ask about waiting periods, benefit definitions and exclusions where personal accident or sickness options are considered. Keep an emergency handover with essential business contacts and authorised access arrangements. The aim is to understand which costs can be planned for, which exposures can be transferred through suitable insurance and which remain the owner’s commercial responsibility.

If moving from sole trader to a company, identify when contracts, assets and invoicing transfer and what earlier work remains associated with the original business. Tell the broker before assuming the old policy follows the new entity. Similar questions arise when adding a partner or purchasing another operator’s customer list. A business restructure can change the parties that need protection even though customers continue seeing the same trading name and telephone number.