Does home insurance cover working from home?

Working from home became normal faster than policy wordings changed, and many people are working under an assumption they have never checked. The distinction insurers draw is not about employment status but about what actually happens in the house.

Safety

Step by step

1. Work out which category you are in.Clerical work alone — a computer, a phone, paperwork — is the easy case. Storing stock, using tools or equipment, seeing clients at home, or employing anyone there are each treated differently.
2. Assume clerical is covered but check.Most insurers now include clerical home working as standard, and many did not a few years ago. The requirement is usually notification rather than an extra premium, and not notifying is what causes problems.
3. Understand what business equipment means.An employer-supplied laptop is often covered by their policy rather than yours, and your own contents cover may exclude items used for business. If you own expensive equipment for work, that is the gap to check.
4. Know that stock is almost never covered.Goods held for sale, materials or supplies stored at home are excluded from standard contents cover. A garage of stock is a business insurance matter, not a home one.
5. Take visitors seriously.Clients, customers or pupils coming to the property changes the liability position entirely. Standard public liability under a home policy covers social visitors, not business ones, and an injury claim is where this bites.
6. Consider whether you need public liability.If anyone visits for business, or you go to clients' premises, that is a separate policy. It is inexpensive and it is the cover most home-based businesses actually need.
7. Check professional indemnity separately.For advice-based work, where the risk is being sued over the work rather than an injury. Some professions require it, and it has nothing to do with home insurance.
8. Tell the insurer, and get it in writing.A phone call, followed by confirmation by email or in the policy schedule. A verbal assurance that is not recorded anywhere is worth very little at claim time.
9. Check whether the mortgage or tenancy allows it.Separate from insurance. Many tenancy agreements and some mortgage conditions restrict business use, and a lease may too. Worth knowing before the insurer is the least of the problems.
10. Check business rates are not triggered.Ordinary home working does not usually trigger them. Converting part of the property to exclusive business use, or having customers visit, can. It is a separate question from insurance and worth knowing about.
11. Review it if the work changes.Moving from clerical to holding stock, or from working alone to seeing clients, changes the position. Insurance set up two years ago for a different arrangement may not cover the current one.
12. Consider a combined policy if the business is substantial.Home-and-business policies exist and are often cheaper than a home policy plus a separate business one. Worth asking a broker rather than assembling it yourself.

Tips

• Ask the specific question rather than a general one: 'I work from home doing X, with Y equipment, and Z people visit.' A general enquiry gets a general answer that protects nobody.
• Employer-supplied equipment is usually the employer's problem. Ask them rather than insuring it yourself twice.
• Keep the written confirmation with the policy documents. It is the thing you will want at the point of a claim.

Common mistakes

• Not telling the insurer at all — Non-disclosure is a misrepresentation that can void the entire policy, including claims that have nothing to do with the work.
• Assuming public liability covers business visitors — Home policy liability covers social visitors. A client injured at your property is a business liability matter and needs separate cover.

If it doesn't work

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